A Christmas Wish
by greenstuff2
Summary: A little one-shot incorporating a reading of the Carol of the Field Mice from The Wind in the Willows ...
1. Chapter 1

All rights to the usual people

 _ **A/N: For those of you that don't already know, a certain BA/CJ did a reading in a carol concert in aid of sick children last Thursday and some of the OG fans were lucky enough to be there and to spend time talking to him and getting photos taken with him, and no, that is definitely not the gnashing of my teeth in envy that you can hear, well it might be, just a little bit.**_

 _ **After hearing about it and seeing the photos I decided to write a little one shot incorporating the event, although I have taken some artistic license (!) It's pure fluff of course, but I hope you enjoy it.**_

"How the fuck are you supposed to cook a bloody turkey that size anyhow, and tell me again, how many people are coming for lunch? And why was I s'posed to order the bastard thing anyway, what the fuck is wrong with going to Tesco?" Molly looked at him, dismay written all over her face "I'm sure you never said"

Paul looked at her with irritation written all over his "Do you ever listen to a word I say? It was the one thing I asked you to do and you couldn't even manage that, I don't know what to say to you Molly"

"That'll make a nice change and no, I don't listen, not if I can help it, wanker" She didn't actually say any of those words out loud, they weren't going to do much to help in her attempt to placate him, to keep the peace and after all it was supposed to be the season of goodwill to all men, even wankers. And now he come to mention it she did have this sort of very vague memory of him saying something about free range and organic butchers or farm shops or something, but that had been back in September and she'd promptly forgotten all about it. I mean, who the hell wants to think about Christmas dinner when they were lying on a lounger in the back garden doing their best to top up their holiday tan? Well, apart from bloody Paul, obviously.

"Sorry, I'll go to Waitrose or Marks and Sparks or some'ing, I'm sure your mum won't mind"

"They'll be sold out of anything decent by now" He exhaled another very irritated breath to demonstrate just how much shit she was in, just in case she hadn't already noticed "You have no idea of how much work she puts in, how much effort my mother has to make in order for Christmas to be perfect, have you? No" He put his hand up "Don't say a word" He shook his head despairingly.

She actually hadn't been going to say anything because she had no idea what he wanted her to say. If ever anyone was dreading the up-coming Christmas holiday it was Molly, she'd heard enough about the 'perfect' sodding tree, the 'perfect' decorations, the 'perfect' bleeding dinner with the 'perfect' bleeding turkey and the 'perfect' bloody stuffing and gravy to last her a sodding lifetime. She'd heard enough, in fact, to make her re-think her entire relationship with him, but had decided that her best course of action was to keep her gob firmly shut and to pin a placatory smile on her face as she struggled to make an elegant job of wrapping Paul's mother's present, a bloody overpriced bit of china stuff, to add to her collection, well, according to Paul it was, when he'd told her what she had to buy. Cheeky fucker had made it sound as though it was the least she could do, so that she'd ended up spending far more than she could afford on something that she hated so as to make a good impression on someone she didn't give a shit about.

Okay, his mother might well be a very nice lady, most likely was, and Molly knew it was very kind of his mum to include her in the 'perfect Christmas', but Paul was never, not in a thousand, no, not in a million, years, ever gonna by THE ONE. The truth was, Molly had seriously gone off him now, but it was Christmas, and everyone knows you can't dump someone at Christmas, even if all the things they used to do which made you happy, that made you fancy the pants off them, quite literally, and the things they used to do that made your legs go all wobbly now made your skin itch inside.

Paul had been her boyfriend for about eight months, ever since she'd met him in a pub near Aldershot when she was out for a sort of reunion piss-up with the lads from 2-Section and they'd got a little bit rowdy and out of hand even for them and Paul had rescued her. He was in the Logistics Corp, in charge of shifting stuff about or some'ing, a bit like Pickfords in army uniform as far as she could work out, although she'd have to admit that she could be wrong about that, she'd never been the tiniest bit interested in his day job, but she'd thought he was good looking and he'd stayed that way even when she'd taken her beer goggles off, so that had been a good start. Now she thought he was a mummy obsessed boring little fucker who was crap in bed, especially now when he was going on and on about her failure to order the bastard turkey.

The journey seemed to take forever, the Motorway was slow going, loads of traffic and Molly wished more than anything that she'd gone for a pee before they'd left, but the turkey police had been hassling the life out of her to shift her arse otherwise they'd be late. She hadn't realised you could be late for getting home for Christmas, but apparently his parents had been expecting them hours ago and it was inconsiderate to keep them waiting, or so ha said, but it wasn't her fault that the world and his bloody wife were all on the M5 at the same time as them was it?

They'd agreed to call a truce in the battleground that was their so-called relationship, after all even soldiers in the trenches in the first world war managed that much, and had agreed to be civil to each other while they were staying at his parents' house and then, to her utter relief, to go their separate ways afterwards. Molly was thanking her lucky stars that his mum didn't approve of sex before marriage so there was no question of them sharing a room, let alone a bed or anything else, and for that she thanked God for small mercies.

The truce lasted for about an hour and a half after they arrived at his parents when Molly realised that he was still sniping at her and she couldn't even think about staying there for Christmas, it was as much as she could do to stay for one night. She'd started to think longingly that she'd much rather do her usual chaotic, boozy, disorganised, noisy Christmas with her chaotic, boozy, disorganised and noisy family in their crowded maisonette in east Ham. The fairy lights would have fused, the kids would be fighting, her mum would be shouting, her dad would be pissed and probably arguing with her nan, who'd be pissed as well, and the tele would be blaring out with no-one watching it cos they was too busy shouting over it, but it was _home_!

Getting a train that evening wasn't actually an option unfortunately, his mother and father had bought these tickets to go to a carol concert in a church, some charity do for kids, so she couldn't just up and piss off, much as she wanted to. Molly didn't do religion, and she didn't sing, correction, she couldn't sing, she sounded more like someone was torturing the cat, but she was happy to give a donation to the charity, it was a good cause after all, but singing in public? Nah, apart from anything else it still brought back too many memories and being in Bath didn't help much with that either.

Memories of another man, a man who'd once invited her to spend Christmas with his parents in Bath ….. .

-OG-

The inside of the church looked magical, all twinkling lights and a huge Christmas tree with candles and pews decorated in garlands with a choir of schoolkids who looked like little angels, although Molly knew that they were most likely little buggers most of the time if her own brothers were anything to go by. It wasn't the singing that made her sit bolt upright in a moment of spine tingling anticipation, she hadn't sung, had just mimed because she didn't want to spoil the overall effect for anyone, no ….. All her attention was suddenly riveted on a very tall dark haired figure that'd just started to make his way to the pulpit to do a reading. She would know that back anywhere, even dressed in a dark sweater with a white shirt under and not army combats.

 _Villagers all, this frosty tide,_

 _Let your doors swing open wide,_

 _Though wind may follow and snow beside,_

 _Yet draw us in by your fire to hide,_

 _Joy shall be yours in the morning!_

She sat there transfixed, she would know that voice anywhere as well as he recited from "The Wind in the Willows" and she was transported out of a church in wintry Bath where it was wet, sleety, dark and cold outside and was back sitting under the fierce sun of a hot and dusty FOB in Afghanistan, to a time gone by, to the blazing heat of a couple of years ago, when she'd sat on the sand and listened to that voice and had been so much in love with him. Paul whispered something in her ear and she 'ssshh'd' him angrily, she would kill the little fucker if he didn't just shut up and let her listen to that voice. She half turned and patted his arm in apology, it wasn't his fault that the man standing in the pulpit doing the reading was the man she'd been so much in love with, and was afraid she still was.

 _Here we stand in the cold and the sleet_

 _Blowing fingers and stamping feet_

 _Come from far away you to greet_

 _You by the fire and we in the street_

 _Bidding you joy in the morning!_

It was doubtful that anyone else in that church knew the precise moment when he'd looked up and seen her, they would not have noticed that imperceptible pause or the very slight widening of the deep brown eyes, but Molly did, she knew that he'd recognised her the instant he'd seen her, despite the darkness of the pews set in the body of the church where she was sitting. She wanted to smile at him, to mouth the word 'hello' but by the time she'd pulled herself together enough to do it he was back reading from his sheet. He didn't look at her again until he was nearly finished, his legendary iron self-control had obviously taken over, but she knew that she would be speaking to him as soon as this was finished, as soon as the concert was over, anything else was unthinkable.

 _Animals all, as it befell_

 _In the stable where they did dwell!_

 _Joy shall be theirs in the morning!_

-OG-

"Dawsey!"

"Hello"

"God, what are you doing here?" He was grinning from ear to ear as he looked down at her "I can't believe it, it's the very last place I'd expect to see you, not that it's not lovely to see you, it is, it's just a bit of a surprise"

"What, you think I'm a heathen or summat? That I never go to church?" She was grinning at him with the same smile of sheer happiness that he wore on his face "That were lovely, the reading 'n that"

"Thanks, it used to be a favourite when I was a kid, and I know you're a bloody heathen, unless you've changed a hell of a lot"

"You haven't changed at all" She paused "And I'm not a bloody heathen, I resent that"

"No you don't and I hope I have changed, well, at least a bit, the last time I saw you I was in Intensive Care with Afghan grime still in my hair" He snorted a short laugh, but still hadn't taken his eyes away from hers "You have changed since then"

"I should think so, I were minging that day, wearing bloody combats that were all grubby and creased up 'n that and I hadn't had a shower or nothing for, well, I dunno for how long"

"You were beautiful" He smiled as she felt a blush start to creep up her neck "And you're even more beautiful now" He took a deep breath still staring into her eyes "Are you here on your own?"

"Yeah, well nah, I'm with me ex, his mum and dad asked me for Christmas and I thought it would be rude not to, but I can't hack it so I'm going home tomorrow morning, back to London"

"What time are you going?"

He made no comment on the fact that she was with an ex, had been going to spend Christmas with him and his parents, nor did he mention that he was there with anyone, but somehow she knew that he wasn't.

"Early as bloody possible, soon as I can get a train"

"Would you like me to give you a lift?"

"What, to the station? I were going to get a taxi"

"If you like, but I was thinking more about you getting home if he's not going to take you" He put his hand on her arm "Lady Luck pisses you about with Christmas's in Bath doesn't she? I invited you once to spend Christmas here with my parents, do you remember?"

"Course I remember, I remember all of it, haven't forgotten anything what happened, especially not that day" She looked up at him, neither of them smiling anymore as all sorts of unhappy memories crowded in together with the memory of the only kiss they'd ever shared, a fleeting kiss she could remember with starting clarity "You asked me just before everything went to shit"

"God, what happened to us, Molly?"

"I dunno, but I really bloody wish it hadn't"

"Yup, me too" He smiled, back to making intensive eye contact with her "I have missed you"

"Yeah, I've missed you too" She gulped then swallowed hard "Where you stationed now? I heard you was okay, that you was back"

"Pirbright, I'm doing some training stuff"

"What just up the bleeding road from me? Why didn't you call me or nothing?"

"Would have done, but I heard about…." He nodded towards where Paul was standing waiting for her "I thought you'd moved on"

"Bloody 2-Section, when did they ever get anything right? First Smurf, now 'im" She turned round and looked to where Paul was standing, then nodded at him as he beckoned pointing at the dial on his watch, obviously getting fed up with standing around waiting for her "Looks like I'd better go, I might be stopping his mum from getting home for her cocoa or summat"

"That'll never do, will it? Look, ring me and I'll pick you up, we're in the book, name of James, Royal Crescent or …" He raised one eyebrow "You could keep your promise and come and spend Christmas with us, if you haven't already promised your family, and if you'd like to that is, have got nothing better to do"

"For Christ's sake I haven't forgotten what your bleeding name is, have I? But I can't do that, Charles, can I? It wouldn't be right, you know, what with everything" She turned her head and looked in Paul's direction.

"No, maybe you're right, but think about it will you? There'd be no funny business, I promise" He laughed.

"No bleeding point in coming then is there?"

"Now I know I'm talking to Dawsey" He put his head back and roared with laughter "Okay, look, promise me you'll ring me in the morning" He leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek, the first real physical contact they'd had despite the fact that Molly would have given anything to just throw her arms round him and _hug_ "I can't help wishing that you'd change your mind though"

"I promise I'll think about it and I'll call you anyhow" She stood on her tiptoes in order to graze his cheek with her lips and then breathed in the sharply familiar _smell_ of him, the smell that was a mixture of soap and shampoo and the essence of him, a smell that would always trigger off her memories "You know what, you might of just got what you wished for"


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: Okay, so I couldn't stick at it being a one-shot, ended up having a romantic wallow, at least I hope it's romantic. Thanks for all your lovely comments and support and I hope you enjoy this. I intend to do one more chapter, Christmas Day, but as I haven't even started it yet, although it's pretty much there in my head, it won't be a daily update, sorry. Not promising, but I will do my best for Wednesday.**_

 _ **CHRISTMAS EVE IN BATH**_

She couldn't do it of course, it would be totally the wrong thing to do, she knew that, but the minute they'd got back to Paul's parents' house she'd pissed off to bed, leaving him to explain to them what had gone wrong and why she was leaving the next morning. She told herself that she wasn't doing it to be rude, she was doing it so that he could say whatever he liked, could tell his parents any version of the truth he wanted, but that was a lie of course. She did it because she couldn't wait to be on her own and think about him, Charles, the Boss, the man she'd loved so much with that sort of hopeless longing, the man who was, after just a chance meeting, once again filling her head the way he'd done for so long.

She hardly slept, just lay there wide awake in Paul's mother's spare room until the early hours, listening to the rain hammering against the window and remembering, re-living her time with him in Afghanistan. She knew perfectly well that she was air-brushing it a bit, she was refusing to even think about some of the stuff that had gone on, concentrating instead on memories of the way he used to smile at her, the way their eyes used to meet across the FOB, those little chats they used to have while she'd dressed his blisters and singing to him, or rather with him, on that makeshift stage in front of the lads. That was the night that she'd acknowledged to herself just how much she was into him and how unlikely it was that anything was ever going to happen between them, how far out of her league he really was. But he wasn't, whatever else she'd believed and been completely right about, she knew now that she'd been completely wrong about that.

It all looked different in the cold light of day. As soon as she opened her eyes, eyes that were gritty and sore from not enough sleep, she'd known exactly what she was going to do, to be honest she'd probably known it ever since the moment he'd asked her, of course she was going to be with him, she didn't care whether it was the wrong thing to do or not, wild horses wouldn't have been able to stop her.

-OG-

"I'm not sure about any of this now" She was chewing the inside of her bottom lip, face screwed up with a mixture of anxiety and indecision "I don't want anyone, you know, your mum or your dad, to think I'm some sort of slapper or some'ing, and anyhow it feels like such a bleeding nerve, just showing up like this all empty handed, without so much as a box of chocolates for your mum"

"You're not a slapper" He snorted a laugh "No-one's going to think that and mum's got enough chocolates, so, what is all this? I haven't heard a Dawesy special for a long time"

"What d'you mean, a Dawes special? What the fuck is that when it's at home?" She couldn't keep the small note of hurt out of her voice, what she needed to hear from him was a bucket load of loving reassurance as they walked to the front door of his parents' house, a house that already totally intimidated her and she hadn't even got inside it yet. Instead, what she'd got was that irritated 'what are you talking about, don't be so fucking stupid' voice from the Bossman that she suddenly remembered so well.

"Hey" He stopped walking and turned to face her, putting her bag down so that he could hold onto her shoulders then put his finger under her chin and tilted her face up to look at him "A Dawsey special is when this brilliant and very beautiful girl worries that she's not doing the right thing, a girl who doesn't realise that she's totally perfect just the way she is" He dropped a light kiss on her forehead "Now come on, get your perfect little arse into gear and let's get inside, it's bloody pissing down out here, or hadn't you noticed?"

But standing in a darkened church with all the romance of candles and fairy lights and looking up at him with that wonderful 'churchy' feeling all round them was one thing, walking next to him in the pouring rain along a cobbled street, walking past the sort of houses you see in films was a different thing entirely. She was crapping herself with nerves.

-OG-

"Might of known" Molly was gazing around, eyes like saucers as she took in the wide hallway with its tiled floor and wonderful staircase; the banister rails entwined with garlands of greenery, garlands that were studded with flashes of scarlet from velvet bows and beautiful baubles, the whole thing lit with tiny white and twinkling fairy lights "I know you said the house was magical at Christmas 'n that, but you never said anything about it being like this, being some sort of stately home, did you?"

"It's not; it's just a house, Molly, bricks and mortar, nothing else"

"Can't wait to tell my lot that"

"Does that mean that I'm going to meet your lot soon then?"

"Oh shit, sorry, I never meant to say nothing that would make it look like …. Shit, me and my big gob"

"Hey, I was winding you up, and I can't wait to meet your lot, if you're ever going to let me that is" He laughed, not waiting for any sort of answer from her "Let's go and find some coffee, I think mum must be in the kitchen because I can smell cooking and coffee and she'll have a tea bag ready for you"

"You remember"

"Of course I remember, what was it now? "A tea bag does me boss" He looked down at her face and smiled, then sighed, wrapping his fingers round hers and pulling her towards the back of the house where there was a wonderful smell of coffee brewing, mixed with the smell of something cooking that was fruity and spicy and smelled of Christmas "You're not the only one who remembers everything about that time you know"

-OG-

"Mum, this is Molly, Molly this is my mother, Margaret"

"Hello Mrs James"

"Margaret dear, Margaret, not Mrs James" She shuddered "She's my mother-in-law and I hate her" Molly giggled "We are so glad to meet you Molly dear, we've heard so much about you"

"Mum, stop it" He thought for a moment "Please….. "

"It's really kind of you to let me stop here for Christmas, Mrs … umm …. Margaret" Molly looked around at the chaotic kitchen "Can I do some'ing to help?"

"You're more than welcome here, dear, and it's okay, I've got everything under control, I think, ooh, I'll tell you what, do you know how to make bread sauce?"

"Sorry, no, no I don't, have you got a book? Can't be that hard, can it?"

"Bugger, I forgot to buy any of the ready-made stuff and I haven't got the first idea how to make it, I can't find it in the book" She shrugged and laughed, her laugh sounding so like Charles' that Molly couldn't stop the grin that was spreading across face "Never mind, no-one ever died because there was no bread sauce, did they?"

Margaret James was tallish and plumpish with big brown eyes and wild looking dark curls which were either flecked with grey or had streaks of flour in them, Molly wasn't sure which. She was wrapped in an apron and surrounded by utensils and ingredients in the middle of a chaotically untidy kitchen, the kitchen was huge but every surface was covered with baking trays, cooling racks, cake tins and assorted odds and ends, with a liberal dusting of flour over everywhere, including the floor round the table where she was cutting pastry for mince pies.

"I'll sort this lot, then I'll do some more coffee, shall I?" Charles picked up and looked at the empty coffee pot, pulled a face, then rolled up his sleeves and started tackling the teetering pile of washing up that was sitting in the sink and on the work surfaces next to it, putting some in the dishwasher and running hot water to tackle the rest.

"Thank you dear, and then would you go and help your dad with the logs while Molly and I get to know one another"

"Oh shit, I mean …. lovely" He looked at Molly and raised one eyebrow, pulling a horrified face, so that she smiled at him, suddenly unbelievably happy and not a bit nervous about anything anymore.

-OG-

"You okay?"

He spoke so quietly that neither his mother nor Bill, his dad, would be able to hear him. They were sitting together on the sofa, his arm along the back behind her head, but not quite close enough to be touching, as they listened to his father talk about Christmas in the places he'd served as a Diplomat. No-one was actually doing anything, everyone just listening and staring into a roaring log fire in one of the largest and poshest rooms Molly had ever seen in any film or television series. There was a huge tree in one corner covered in baubles and glittery bits and pieces with strings of multi-coloured lights, where Molly had expected single coloured so-called tasteful stuff and plain white lights, until Margaret gave her a guided tour of the decorations and explained how they'd been collected over the years since Charles was a very little boy when he'd refused to be parted from any one of them, and that Sam was now exactly the same. The only bit that Molly was still worried about was that there was a substantial pile of gifts under the tree so that she was aware that she had come here completely empty handed, without even so much as a token gift for her hostess.

"Yeah, course I am" She turned her head to grin at him as she whispered her reply.

"Charles, put your shoes back on, Molly doesn't want the benefit of your feet" He'd taken his shoes off and rested his feet on the coffee table in front of them and his mother had only just noticed what he'd done.

"It's alright, Margaret, I'm used to his feet" Molly giggled at the raised eyebrows on his father's face, a face that was so like Charles it had taken her breath away when she'd first seen him "I used to treat his blisters when we was in Afghan, they was horrible" She gave an exaggerated shudder.

"I can imagine"

"No dad, what Molly means is that they were very sore and painful and that I suffered agonies from them"

"Do I?" Molly giggled, then caught her breath as he put his arm out, laughing, and pulled her closer to him on the sofa, dropping a very light, barely there, kiss on the top of her head "If you say so"

"Right, time to get the supper ready, I think" Margaret got up so briskly from the other sofa that she almost leapt to her feet, and started to rattle tea cups together in her haste to put them on the tray and go back to the kitchen.

"What can I do to help?" Molly started to get up as Margaret stopped in her tracks and shook her head.

"Stay where you are dear, we don't make any fuss Christmas Eve, it's just a bit of pasta, and anyway Bill will be giving me a hand, won't you dear?"

"Will I?" He looked at his wife's face and obviously read some message there "Yes of course I will"

She bustled off with her tray of cups, with Bill doing as he was told and following close behind, then coming back, obviously again obeying instructions, and closed the door.

"That was my mother's very heavy handed idea of tact, in case you hadn't noticed" He shook his head and smirked, breaking into a laugh.

"What does she think is gonna go on then?"

"Well, I imagine she thinks I'm going to kiss you, or rather that we're going to kiss each other"

"And are we?" She smiled into his eyes which were meltingly soft as he looked at her then put his hand out and stroked her cheekbone with his thumb, moving his hand down to cup her chin "Cos if we are, I have to tell you that I've been longing to kiss you ever since the first time we kissed"

"Have you?" His face moved even closer to hers as she lifted her eyes to look into his "Not as much as I've been longing to kiss you and I don't know how I've managed to keep my hands off you all day" He laughed softly to acknowledge that he'd just stolen her phrase from Afghan.

"Ditto" She whispered, doing exactly what he'd just done, her face now just a couple of inches away from his "Is this a competition? Cos if it is, I'll most likely win"

"I don't know, is it?" He leaned forward across the last couple of inches that separated them and kissed her gently, exactly as he had in that compound by a bridge in Afghanistan and, just as it had on that day, her stomach plunged as if she'd just shot skyward in the fastest lift in the world "And I'll definitely win"

Bill's loud throat clearing and even louder door-knob fumbling before he opened the door a crack and shouted "Supper's ready" made Charles mutter "Fuck" under his breath while Molly giggled and moved away from him in order to get up, she was still slightly anxious that his parents didn't see her as some sort of slapper and necking with him on the sofa while they got the supper ready would definitely come under that heading as far as she was concerned.

-OG-

Happiness for Molly that evening was sitting at the kitchen table eating pasta and watching and laughing as Charles, a totally different Charles from Captain Stern, was teased unmercifully by his mother until he put his hands up in the air and called "Stop, enough, you're embarrassing Molly" so that Molly jabbed her thumb into her chest and pulled a "What me?" face so that he winked at her, his grin broad across his face.

"So, tell us Molly, just how horrible is he when he's being the boss?" Margaret obviously hadn't finished giving him a hard time just yet.

"He weren't too bad" She saw him nod and give a jokingly self-satisfied 'so there' smirk at his mother "Well, not as Rupert's go he wasn't, bit bossy sometimes"

"What's a Rupert?" Molly turned towards Bill to answer him.

"It's what we peasants call them officers when they're pushing us about, running us ragged or calling us names, like he called me a Doris"

"Yeah, I did didn't I? Sorry about that" He smiled at her again then winked "Not that you ever did anything I told you, did you?"

"Did ….. well, sometimes" She bit her bottom lip "I did when you threatened to lob me …."

"Molly, don't" He put his hands together in a sort of pleading, praying motion "I'll never hear the bloody end of it"

"You can't leave it there, you'll have to tell us now" Margaret leaned forward in her chair, topped up her glass of wine and put her elbows on the table, ready to listen as Charles muttered "Shit" and tilted his chair back, looking up at the ceiling.

"He didn't like me very much so he threatened to lob me out of the plane" Molly was a bit sorry she'd started this now, she was afraid she might be upsetting him but didn't know how to change the subject.

He sat up and smiled reassuringly, then winked again "Didn't though, did I?"

"Nah" Suddenly, and just for a moment, there was no-one else in the kitchen as they smiled into each other's eyes across the table.

"It was your lucky day then that day, wasn't it son? I'm sorry but I've got to say this, and I know that I promised you Charles, promised that I wouldn't say anything, that I wouldn't embarrass Molly ….."

"Mum!" Charles interjected a sharp note of warning in his voice.

"We all know just how much we owe to you Molly dear" Margaret totally ignored Charles' interruption "We know that you are the reason we still have our son and that Sam still has his daddy, and we'll never, ever be able to thank you enough"

"I were just doing me job" Molly could feel as the hot flush crept up her neck and then her face starting to burn with embarrassment.

"Come on, we'll wash up" Charles got up and walked round the table, pulling a grateful Molly to her feet so that her face was hidden and the subject was changed "You go and sit down Mum, you must be tired"

-OG-

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I just find it all a bit, you know, embarrassing when people talk about … stuff like that"

"I know, but they're right of course, you do know that don't you? Come on, wash or wipe? you choose"

"Oi, what's wrong with the dishwasher?"

"Oh yes I'd forgotten about that" He opened the dishwasher "Now, are you going to come to Midnight Mass? I usually go with mum if I'm home, because dad won't go, he did his annual church bit last night, but mum loves it, so ….. "

"I dunno, I'm a bit tired" She actually felt that she should leave him to go on his own with his mother "I never slept much last night"

"I didn't either, funny that isn't it?" He cupped her face in his hands and dropped another one of his tantalisingly gentle and fleeting kisses on her mouth "Go to bed, get some sleep and I'll see you in the morning, Christmas day tomorrow so it'll probably be manic"

-OG-

Drifting halfway between sleeping and waking she heard him come up the stairs and hesitate for a long minute outside her door before going on to his own room. She turned over in bed and burrowed under the duvet, knowing that she'd been waiting to hear him get home safely before allowing herself to finally drop off to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: This was getting very, very long and I didn't want to start cutting out loads, so I decided to separate it into 2, Christmas Morning, then the rest of the day, so at least 1 more Chapter as it stands. Thank you for your lovely comments and I hope you enjoy this further wallow.**_

 _ **-OG-**_

 _ **CHRISTMAS MORNING IN BATH**_

It was just getting light and there was a sound of carols playing on a radio somewhere in the house when someone knocked lightly on her door. Just for a moment Molly felt a rush of adrenalin believing it was Charles, before she heard Margaret's voice asking very quietly if she was awake because she'd bought her a cup of tea.

"Yeah I'm awake and thanks that's really nice of you"

"You're very welcome dear; I can't get going in the morning till I've had my first cuppa" She put the mug down on the bedside table "Merry Christmas"

"Merry Christmas" Molly smiled remembering when Charles had said something very similar to her about his first drink of the day when she was about to go home for R&R and they were alone in the med tent at the FOB "I'll get up in a minute"

"No rush, have you got a dressing gown with you? we don't bother to get dressed till after breakfast Christmas Day, so if you need one I've got a spare you can use" She looked at Molly and smiled "Mind you, It'll swamp a little dot like you, but still ….."

"Thank you, that's kind of you"

"Just a moment I'll go and get it" Margaret went to leave the room "And then I'm going to make some coffee, wake that lazy so and so of a husband of mine, oh and my son who's nearly as bad"

"Charles? Lazy?" Molly asked, thinking as she asked that that was the first time she'd ever heard him described like that, when they were in Afghan he'd never seemed to sleep.

"No, not really but Bill isn't a fussy bugger, a mug of Nescafe does him, whereas Charles, well he's another matter entirely, still you'd know all about that I suppose, because you two know each other quite well don't you?"

For a moment Molly didn't know what on earth to say, she wasn't sure whether Margaret was upset or annoyed or something, whether she was insinuating that they'd been sleeping together when they were in Afghanistan, or whether Margaret was telling her to back off in some way, or even what he'd said about her to his parents.

"Well we used to see each other every day, you know, first thing in the morning 'n that, when we was in Afghan, so yeah, I know all about his Rosabaya coffee thing"

"I didn't actually mean that, dear, it's just that I, well we really, Bill and I, we were saying yesterday how lovely it is to see him smile" She walked away "I'll just get you that dressing gown"

-OG-

"Come in Mum, I'm decent"

"It's not your mum, it's me"

"Oh well, in that case definitely come in" She could hear the laugh in his voice as she carefully carried his mug of coffee across to the side of the bed desperately trying not to trip over what seemed like the yards of dressing gown that were trailing under her feet, Margaret James was a lot taller and a lot wider than her and it was probably big even on her "Good morning, beautiful" He put his hands behind his head and leaned back against the bedhead, his face wreathed in a smile "Merry Christmas"

"Yeah and to you, you gonna get up before your mum comes up here to sort you out?"

He ignored what she'd said about his mother and patted the bed next to him "Come and sit down so that I can talk to you while I drink this" He raised his eyebrows and kissed her cheek "Any chance you could wake me up like this every morning?"

"Bit previous there aren't you?"

"Nope, it's chemistry"

"Failed that didn't I?"

"You know what I mean" He leaned across and kissed her on the cheek again "Did you sleep okay?"

"Yeah it was okay, what about you?"

"No, of course I didn't, silly question, far too many memories keeping me awake"

Seeing him in bed with dark stubble on his chin and a lazy sleepy grin across his face, she desperately needed him to put something on his top half. His bare torso was sending her straight back to the FOB in Afghanistan where she'd spent hours, quite literally, watching him work out or secretly staring at him in that bloody paddling pool and had longed to run her hands over him, over those muscles, muscles that were now so tantalisingly close to her. She had no idea what he was wearing under the duvet, she was actually doing her best not to think about it in case the temptation to take Margaret's bloody dressing gown off and get into bed next to him proved to be a bit too much.

"Come on then, let's crack on and get something to eat, although I doubt that mum's got any of that sugar filled crap that you eat" He gestured with his hand that she should turn her back as he got out of bed and pulled on his jeans and Molly had to resist the temptation to gawp as he pulled on a 'T' shirt "Do you still eat that junk?"

"Course I do, and I remember when you shared it with me, seem to remember you dipping your spoon in, said you liked it at the time"

"That wasn't me, couldn't have been" He laughed "I'd have remembered something like that, must have been …" He paused, he'd so obviously been about to say Sohail "God, Molly, I'm sorry, I was just teasing, I wasn't thinking, I didn't mean to remind you" He put his hand across and wrapped her fingers in his, stroking the back of her knuckles with his thumb and then did his best to change the subject "I presume that thing belongs to my mother" He gestured at the dressing gown "So bloody well be careful on the stairs wearing it, we don't want any broken necks on Christmas Day do we?"

"No Boss" She smirked at him "Well, actually I don't want one any day"

"And you can stop that for that a start"

"What?"

"Calling me Boss"

"Okay ….. Sir"

-OG-

It was the first time Molly had ever had champagne for breakfast, well except in those little cans of ready-made Bucks Fizz, which tasted bloody horrible compared to the real thing, and Margaret was beginning to look slightly flushed as if she'd been knocking them back for a while.

"How many of those have you had Mum? It might be an idea to eat some breakfast instead of just drinking it"

"It's only orange juice, well nearly, and I've only had a couple, and its Christmas so stop nagging your mother, it's not nice"

"If you say so" Charles laughed and put his hands on Molly's shoulders as she stood in front of him so that she leaned back and rested her head against his chest then lifted her chin to look back up at him, loving the way this was making her feel "And you" He shook her gently "Stop encouraging her, she doesn't need any encouragement"

Croissants warm from the oven with cherry jam meant that they all ended up licking sticky fingers and chasing crumbs round their plates as Charles made more coffee and a cup of tea for Molly, while his dad grumbled and asked him what the hell was wrong with instant and whether he thought he was George Clooney. All of it suddenly felt so _right_ that Molly couldn't stop the wonderful warm bubble of happiness that was building and spreading through her.

-OG-

"Come on, all of you, shoo, out of my kitchen" Margaret was making flapping signals with her hands "I've got to get the turkey on or it'll be midnight before the bugger's cooked"

"What can I do to help? Can I peel some'ing or other?"

"Of course not, there's nothing to peel it's all ready, so you just go and make yourself gorgeous before the old bag gets here, not that it'll take much, lovely girl like you" She turned to Charles "And you, you go and have a shave, you cannot sit down to Christmas dinner with your grandmother looking like a tramp, we'll never hear the end of it"

Hard as she tried Molly couldn't help the giggles that began to erupt as she pictured what the lads would make of Captain Stern being told off by his mum for not having a shave.

"What are you laughing at?" Charles smirked as he put his arm round her shoulders, then moved it until it was round her neck, pulling her backwards against him.

"Medic"

"What?"

"You forgot, it's _what are you laughing at Medic?"_

"Oh yes, very funny, in fact, fucking hilarious"

"Charles James, watch your language ….. in front of your mother as well, I don't know!" Margaret was bustling around the kitchen muttering to herself, trying her absolute best to sound shocked and outraged at the same time as trying desperately not to laugh as she picked up a tea towel and swatted him across the bum with it "Go on, get out of my kitchen the pair of you"

-OG-

The sound of voices from the hall downstairs made Molly walk back to the mirror to check her appearance for the umpteenth time, hoping that her one and only 'dressy' dress was good enough for what was beginning to feel as if it was going to be a bit of an ordeal. She took a deep breath and wished it was just the four of them like it had been the day before, or that she was already safely downstairs in the kitchen peeling something. The thought of walking down that staircase in her highest heels in front of an audience was enough to convince her that she was bound to trip and fall or do something else to humiliate herself and she wished with all her heart that she'd arranged with Charles for him to wait for her so that they could go down together.

"You look _beautiful"_ She turned to look at the very welcome sight of Charles, clean shaven and looking gorgeous wearing a blue shirt that looked brand new, and, best of all, lounging against the banister rail waiting for her.

"You don't look too shabby yourself"

"You ready for this?" He held out his hand to take hers "Come on then and don't look like that or I'll think it's a Dawsey special, it's only my grandmother not the bloody Taliban and whatever my mum's told you about her, she's not that bad"

"Gran, this is Molly my girlfriend, Molly, this is Caroline James my grandmother"

"Hello, Mrs James"

Girlfriend _? Girlfriend_? Molly had to exercise all her self-control to stop herself spinning round to check the expression on his face, he'd just called her his girlfriend and he hadn't warned her that he was going to say anything like that, because thinking about it, he must have said it to try and wind his grandmother up for some reason, hadn't he?

"Caroline, merry Christmas" Margaret bustled to the rescue from the kitchen, kissing her mother-in-law on the cheek "Here let me take your coat and Charles, get your grandmother a drink" She took the coat from Caroline "Molly dear can I borrow you for a minute?"

-OG-

"Do you want sherry or maybe something else? Gin? Vodka?" Margaret picked up the bottle of sherry and waved it in Molly's direction.

"Thanks, but it's a bit early for me"

"Is it? It's about this time in her visits that I feel the need for something to help me put up with her"

"She's only just got here"

"Exactly"

"Mum, stop it, Molly will start believing you in a minute" Charles had followed them into the kitchen to get his grandmother the cup of coffee she'd asked for.

"Killjoy" Margaret checked that the water in the steamer was boiling before putting the Christmas pudding in.

"What time are Betsy and Graham getting here?"

"There's another treat in store for you Molly dear, my bossy sister and her incredibly boring husband"

"Mum, will you do me a favour please and stop trying to put Molly off our family"

"You ain't met mine"

"Not yet" Suddenly there was another one of those moments when it was just the two of them in the kitchen, when their eyes met and exchanged a look that was a smile as had happened so often in the past.

"Sounds like that could be them now"

"Oh bugger, I was hoping they'd be late"

"Mum!"

Molly giggled, the more she got to know Margaret, the more she was reminded of Nan, just with a very much posher accent.

"I'm going to Rebecca's to get Sam, do you want to come with me?"

"Of course she doesn't, she doesn't want to be turned into a pillar of salt" His mother made the same shooing motions with her hands as she'd made after breakfast "Go on, go and get my gorgeous grandson, Molly will be fine here with me, I won't let anyone eat her"

"I'd wish them luck with that anyway, she might only be little, but she's tough, hard as nails is our Dawsey, just ask her"

"Won't be long" He bent his head and kissed her quickly, full on the lips, then pulled back for a moment, smiled and bent his head to kiss her again, completely ignoring the presence of his mother who was bustling around at the cooker with her back tactfully turned towards them.

-OG-

The shrill shouts of a very excited small boy rushing around greeting everyone bought her back to the present. She'd been standing in the dining room for ages just looking at the table, a table that looked like something in one of those magazine pictures about 'perfect' Christmas table settings and she should know, she'd seen enough of them over the past few weeks when Paul had insisted on showing her the articles. Paul…..… Molly felt a small pang of guilt about Paul, it wasn't his fault that he wasn't the man of her dreams, and that's what all this was really, a dream.

She didn't belong here, not really, not in this posh house with this beautifully decorated table with all its sparkly glasses and crockery that matched and the table centre with the red candles, none of this was her, any more than this family were with their teasing and their laughing, they were all way out of her league. And especially out of her league was Charles, she'd adored him for years, hadn't been able to move on from him hard as she'd tried, but even in her wildest dreams this was never going to happen.

"You okay? You looked miles away" Charles bent his head to kiss her again, this time to say hello.

"Course I am, glad you're back though"

"So am I" He looked down at her face "Come on, what's the matter, what's wrong? Is this a Dawsey special?"

"Nah, well maybe just a bit, I mean all this, it's all lovely 'n that, but ….. Charles, can I ask you some'ing?"

"Of course"

"What happened? To us, I mean, why didn't you ever call me or nothing? After all that stuff you said in the hospital then I never heard from you again, why?"

"Because" He took a deep breath "I meant everything I said to you in hospital that day, about how you'd changed my life, then I realised I was scaring you, that you still had a load of stuff you needed to do and that you weren't going to be able to do any of it if you stayed here with me, driving me backwards and forwards to re-hab"

"I can't drive" She giggled, making him tip his head back and laugh.

"By the time I realised just how much of a drop kick I was you'd moved on, or that's what I was told, and I didn't want to fuck it up for you because ….. well … because …."

"Because what? And I never moved on, not even a little bit, I just didn't think I'd ever see you again"

He bent his head to kiss her just as his father appeared in the dining room doorway.

"Charles, come on we'll have to let Sam open these parcels otherwise he's going to burst a blood vessel" Bill laughed not appearing to notice what he'd interrupted, then turned to look back at Sam "That's if there are any there with his name on them, I haven't seen any, have you Sammie?"

"Grandpop, there are loads and loads with my name on, come and look"

"My fucking family, their timing is immaculate" Charles raised his eyebrows to the ceiling, groaned then snorted a short laugh "Come on looks like this'll have to wait till later"

-OG-

"You remember Molly, Scamp?"

The little boy shook his head, overcome with an attack of shyness as his dad stood behind him one hand on his shoulder and grinned over his head towards Molly.

"Course he doesn't, it were a long time ago Charles" She smiled reassuringly at the mini-me of Charles that was standing in front of her "And it were only for a few minutes in a bl … in a hospital, weren't it?"

Sam shrugged his father's hand off his shoulders and went scampering back to the intriguing pile of presents under the tree. For the next ten minutes or so he was in seventh heaven ripping paper off carefully wrapped parcels while Charles did his best to rescue gift labels from the torn up paper so that they had a fighting chance of knowing who had sent him what for thank-you notes to be written. After he'd finished collecting his spoils, Sam got almost as much fun from distributing gifts to the adults who were watching him as he painstakingly spelt out the names on the labels making sure that things went to the right recipients.

" Y, does this say Molly, Daddy?"

"Yup"

"What? Charles, what on earth, I mean, thank you, but …." She took the small oblong package feeling a blush creeping up her neck as all the eyes turned in her direction "When did you get time to do this?"

"On my way to pick you up yesterday and it's just something small" He leaned forward to kiss her cheek and to whisper "Whatever you do, don't open the envelope" He looked around "Not here"

The small and beautifully illustrated copy of "The Wind in the Willows" had an inscription inside that was written in the script she remembered so well.

' _Molly_

 _I'll always be grateful to the Field Mice_

 _Love Charles'_

"Thank you, it's lovely"

She shrugged helplessly and held out an envelope with her name written on it in the same script "Can you look after this, please?" She handed it to him even though it was scorching her fingers with her need to see what he'd written, her best 'dressy' dress had no pockets and she didn't want the envelope swept up in all the paper.

"What's that Daddy?"

"That's for Molly, not for you Scamp" he took hold of one of Sam's hands, holding onto Molly's with the other, his whole face wreathed in a happy smile "Come on then, crack on, we'd better go and eat some of this lunch that Grannie's spent all morning cooking before she gets mad at us"


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N: Have not decided yet whether to carry on to Boxing Day or New Year's Eve, I thought I'd see what sort of support there is first, but whatever I decide to do, thank you for your support for this and please tell me what you think. Sorry my laptop had an attached of the heebies, started eating stuff, so have had to re-check everything.**_

 _ **CHRISTMAS IN BATH**_

"What was it like, Christmas out there?"

Bill was doing his level best to keep the conversation away from any sensitive areas, he was still slightly afraid that Margaret would launch into her ' _What we owe Molly'_ speech again despite him warning to her not to. She was completely sincere, he knew that she meant every word, but Molly seemed to find it embarrassing and he didn't want anything to spoil the happiness he could see surrounding his son and the girl with the long hair and amazing green eyes who was sitting next to him.

"Fun" Molly turned and smirked at Charles "We had this great waiter for our dinner, although the miserable so-and-so wouldn't let me have a Vodka and he got a bit shi….. annoyed when we chucked mince pies at him after, seems it's an army tradition or some'ing, I thought it were a terrible waste of mince pies, meself, mind they were a bit sh…. , not like yours Margaret"

"They were also bloody rock hard, hurt like hell" He smirked back at her.

"Did they? I thought that were just you making a fuss about nothing, it were only a bit of pastry"

"Yeah, but it was army pastry, like concrete, some medic you were, couldn't see that I was in agony"

"What, you were the waiter?" His grandmother sounded appalled "You waited on people then they threw food at you? But you were their officer surely, their CO?"

"It's a tradition Gran, and anyway they had to clean it up afterwards, so ….." He grinned at Molly "You were breaking regulations all that day, I remember, you left your hair down and put a bit of tinsel round it, I've still got the photos somewhere"

"Yeah Brains gave me the tinsel, said I looked like a little angel, numpty, but I didn't know you took any photos, can I see them later?"

Being allowed to sit next to him had been a huge relief, she'd had this vision of having to sit next to Graham his uncle, the one Margaret had called incredibly boring, a fat middle-aged man who hadn't yet said a single word to her and who, Molly was sure, she'd have absolutely nothing in common with. She'd been sure that they'd do that 'posh' thing of making people sit opposite each other, but she'd been wrong. As it was Charles was sitting in between her and Sam so that she was sitting next to Margaret as well which was even more of a relief. She tried a couple of times to whisper and ask him what was in the letter, if it was a letter, but he just kept tapping the side of his nose and smirking which was really bloody annoying, the curiosity was killing her.

Sam's stage whisper to his dad was clearly audible all round the table. He had been taking sly peeps round his father's back or front whenever he thought no-one, especially her, would notice ever since they'd cleared the remains of the main course away and Margaret had been right when she'd told Molly that the only one who would grizzle about the lack of bread sauce would be Caroline. Sam seemed to have recognised her but had just kept on looking and then looking away quickly when she caught his eye. Everyone had pulled crackers, and Molly had used her phone to take pictures of Charles wearing a pink paper hat, which she said had distinct blackmail possibilities and was a Christmas present for his platoon and now everyone was saying that they couldn't eat another thing, as they waited for Margaret to bring in the pudding.

"Molly was a soldier when you were in hospital Daddy, wasn't she?"

"Yeah, still am mate"

"You don't look like one now" Sam leaned forward completely so that he could inspect her closely from the other side of his father as Charles ruffled his hair and explained.

"Lady soldiers are just like men, like daddy, Scamp, they don't wear their uniform all the time either, Molly only really looks like a soldier when she's wearing her uniform" then he turned to Molly and whispered "And not even then most of the time"

Sam pulled a puzzled face as Molly giggled, then he thought for a moment "You were funny, I remember you made me laugh and I 'member you were holding Daddy's hand, why was Molly holding your hand, Daddy?"

The silence that greeted this announcement and question was profound, suddenly everyone was hanging onto every word and paying such close attention that Molly could feel another blush starting to creep up her neck. She wanted to weigh into the discussion, but the only contribution that came immediately to mind was 'Oh shit' so she had to sit there and squirm while she waited for Sam to share his next observation with his interested audience. She was getting increasingly cross with Charles who had an utterly self-satisfied smirk across his face, a smirk she longed to remove with a slap.

"Well, Scamp, she was holding my hand because ….."

"Daddy was feeling a bit poorly that day, Sam, so I was just holding his hand to try and make him feel better"

Molly interrupted whatever Charles had been about to say at the same time as glaring at him while he carried on smirking, obviously completely unabashed at the turn the conversation had taken. Happiness and mischief were written all over his face until she couldn't help smiling back, wanting to laugh at the same time as longing to kick him but he seemed to know because he kept moving his legs just out of her reach.

"Tell you what Scamp, go and ask Grannie if she needs some help with carrying anything?"

Any intentions that Charles had of deflecting the general discussion away from his relationship with Molly was doomed to failure and was a complete waste of time as his aunt started the questions. Molly willed him not to vanish into the kitchen on the pretext of helping his mum and leaving her to face the interrogation, she wouldn't put it past him in his current frame of mind, he was enjoying himself!

"So, how long have you two known each other then? I didn't realise that you'd known each other for quite so long, I thought it was a new friendship" She looked puzzled as though she'd been deliberately misled "And what did you do out there, Molly? I mean, I know you're in the army, was in Afghanistan, but what did you actually do? Did Charles just say something about you being a medic, was that doing the same thing as the men?"

"Yes, Molly's a medic" Margaret put the serving dish down on the table as Bill tried his best to set fire to the pudding at the same time as telling Margaret that she hadn't put nearly enough brandy on it for it to flare properly, so she sloshed some more over it "She was the medic who …"

"Mum" Charles' voice was sharp with warning and Bill also started to talk loudly over her, both of them worried she was about to talk about Charles getting shot and Molly's role in saving his life again.

"I don't know why it's all such a secret" Margaret was muttering to herself as she started serving up the pudding which was now laden with so much extra brandy it was enough to put anyone over the drink drive limit because Bill had given up trying to set fire to his eyebrows "I would have thought it was something to be proud of"

"I used to look after them all, you know, if they was hurt or poorly or summat, if they got blisters or some'ing in their eye 'n that, but I also used to go out on patrols, did a lot of the same stuff as the men"

"She was a brilliant soldier, well she still is of course, just not one of my mine anymore" He turned and smiled at her, then looked around the table "She won a medal out there, for rescuing someone from a minefield, he'd been shot by a sniper, mind you she ignored every order I gave her that day as well"

"Sorry"

"No you're not, you never were, but we were all so proud of you that day"

"What even you? You told me off"

"I was the boss, I had to, didn't mean I wasn't proud of you"

He put his hand under the table and clasped hers giving it a quick squeeze, he had felt her go tense when it had looked as if his mother was going to say far too much again.

-OG-

It was going on for nine o'clock when the house was finally quiet, Betsy and Graham had taken Caroline home which Margaret said meant that she was going to mention them in her will after all, a statement which had made Molly giggle, as so many of Margaret's announcements did. Margaret was now snoring gently in a chair in front of the fire while Molly sat on the sofa and waited for Charles to come down from putting Sam to bed, an exercise which seemed to have taken hours. The only light in the room was from the roaring log fire and the Christmas tree lights and Margaret wasn't the only one who felt sleepy, although there was no way Molly would be able to nod off, well not until he'd given her that envelope back and let her open it.

The three of them, Sam, Charles and her had played raucous board games all afternoon, with Molly teaching Sam all the advanced methods of cheating that she'd perfected from her years growing up in a large family so that in the end Charles had caved in and begged his father to be on his team to even things up a bit. Listening to Sam giggle and seeing the happy grin on Charles' face had made it one of the best Christmas days she could remember, apart from the occasional niggle of homesickness for mum and Nan and the kids, a niggle which eventually made her go and sit on the bottom of the stairs to ring them.

"Everything okay?" Charles had pulled her down to sit next to him on the rug so that she was almost leaning against him as she nodded "Did you tell them where you were?"

"Nah, well, not exactly, they already knew I was in Bath"

"You didn't tell them you were with me?"

"Nah, sorry" She bit her lip and pulled a contrite face "They don't know you, I'm not sure they've ever even heard of you actually, I don't wanna worry them"

"It's okay, don't look like that, you can tell them tomorrow" He kissed her on the top of her head "Come on, it's time you helped me, this horrible child keeps winning"

Molly wanted to tell him that she'd just promised her mum that she'd be home tomorrow, she hadn't imagined for a minute that he was expecting her to stay on once Christmas day was over.

-OG-

"Is Dad still hard at it in the kitchen?"

"Yeah, I did ask him if I could help, but he told me to bugger off cos he had it all under control"

Charles laughed as he explained it was a James family tradition for his dad to tackle the huge pile of washing up on Christmas evening, most of which was Margaret's pride and joy and wasn't dishwasher safe, and then for him to clear up and clean the kitchen, a picture which made Molly laugh incredulously as she tried and failed to picture Dave doing the same thing.

"Can I have me letter now?"

"I thought we could look at these first" He put the photo album down on her knee and then lifted her up so that she was sitting on his lap "Anyway I thought I'd tell you what was in it, you don't need to read it, honestly"

"Anyone would think you didn't want me to read it and we can look at those after" She put her hand out palm upwards "Come on, hand it over"

"It's just a sort of IOU really; nothing special" She could see the tinge of red on his cheekbones even by the light of the tree and the fire "Is mum still asleep?"

"Yeah, now stop pissing about and give it 'ere"

 _M,_

 _This is a for the best Christmas present you could ever have given me. I can't believe Lady Luck has handed me another chance after I fucked it up so badly out there and then again when we got home. I was so sure that I knew what you were thinking and wanting and feeling that I didn't ask you what you thought or what you wanted or what you felt, and then I thought I'd lost you._

 _Worst of all, I never took any of the opportunities I had to tell you that I love you, not even after the thunder in the ditch when we both thought it was the end, so I'm telling you now. C xxx_

"Do you mean it?"

"Of course I mean it, and are you going to just sit there or are you going to kiss me?"

"Is your dad gonna come through that door any minute?"

"Probably" He moved his hand and stroked down her face until he reached her mouth and then ran a finger over her bottom lip then kissing her gently, deepening his kiss as they both heard Margaret begin to stir at exactly the same moment "Shit, I don't believe it"

Molly now got the most serious attack of happy giggles that she'd had for years as she went to move off his lap in order to sit decorously next to him, but his arms round her stopped her and then with one eye watching his mother, he whispered in her ear, making all the little hairs shiver in his warm breath, that with a bit of luck his parents would piss off to bed in a minute.

By the time his father came in with an offer of hot chocolate, which they both declined and his mother had stretched, yawned and looked over at them approvingly, they were looking through the photograph album from Helmand, outdoing one another with their " _Do you remember_?" and " _I'd forgotten all about that"_ Molly was still sitting on his lap as she ran her fingers down over pictures of Quaseem and one of Bashira so that she turned her head and looked at Charles and he kissed her forehead telling her not to worry about the little girl, that she'd be fine, and then they were both laughing at the antics of 2-Section in his paddling pool, bare bums for all to see, and a lovely photograph of Molly looking beautiful as she was about to sing with him on that stage.

"That was the night I knew I was bloody mad about you"

"Ditto"

"Really? I thought it was just me felt like that"

"Well, you were wrong, weren't you" He kissed her lips fleetingly, one eye on his parents "I'm not sure which was worse now, wanting to kiss you so badly that night or Christmas when bloody Brains put that tinsel on your head and I wanted to hit him, you looked so bloody gorgeous and I was so jealous of him touching you then laughing with you like that"

"I never knew that, and there was nothing to be jealous of, you do know that don't you, not with him, not with Smurf, not with anyone, it was always just you"

"I know" He put his mouth against her ear, making all the tiny hairs shiver once again "I know I promised you that there'd be no funny business" They both started laughing "But I'm not sure how much longer I can stand this, waiting for my bloody parents to go to bed makes me feel like a teenager again, so do you think we could possibly just go to bed?"

"Thought you'd never ask"

-OG-

"Mum it's me, no, course there's nothing wrong, it's just that I wanted to tell you that I'm bringing someone home with me … "


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N: Please ignore the last phrase of Chapter 4, turned out to be a bit previous as Molly would say. Hope you enjoy Christmas night and Boxing Day, will go on to New Year but just give me a few days to write it. I have tried to concentrate on the romance of them getting together and have left everyone to fill in their own blanks of any smut, so hope you enjoy it, please let me know.**_

 _ **CHRISTMAS NIGHT IN BATH**_

"Don't forget to see to the fire and turn the tree lights off before you come up, your dad and I are going up now, it's been a long day" She made a 'meaningful' face at an oblivious Bill then jerked her head towards the door exactly as Charles did so often "Goodnight you two, sleep well"

"Thanks, and you" Molly didn't know quite where to look as Charles whispered something in her ear which sounded remarkably like "Don't worry, we will" making her want to hit him again "Thanks for a lovely day, Margaret, and Bill, and for the dinner and everything, it was all lovely"

"You're very welcome, dear, see you in the morning"

Margaret picked up her half-finished mug of chocolate and stood up beckoning to Bill who, once again, looked bewildered then resigned, he had found over the years that it was far easier to just do as he was told rather than to query anything.

"Do you think she heard what you said?" Molly asked anxiously as his parents disappeared, carefully closing the door behind them.

"Which bit?" He lifted up her hair and began to kiss her neck as Molly turned her horrified eyes on him "What, that we wanted to spend some time on our own? Probably, she's got ears like a bat"

"Shit"

"What? You thought she'd believe that a bit of hand holding and a peck on the cheek was going to be it?" He put his head back and roared with laughter then smoothed the little tendrils of curls that were forming tight little ringlets round her face "I know she's my mum, and I know she can be a bit ditzy at times" He laughed and nodded as Molly shook her head making a small sound of protest "Of course she is, sometimes I think she's living on a planet all of her own, but she knows exactly how I feel about you" He cupped her face and turned it towards his "And hopefully how you feel about me"

"Did you say some'ing to her?"

"I didn't need to Molly, I think everyone who saw us today would have seen it because I'm not sure we're that good at hiding it, or I'm not"

"We managed to hide it before though, didn't we?"

"Did we? I've always wondered, Kinders can be very astute you know"

"Nah, I'm sure he didn't know nothing, he were pretty good to me when I were in bits about you, let me pack up your stuff and everything which I don't think he'd have done if he'd thought there was anything, you know …" She shrugged then smiled, remembering "Told me to sanitise it, get shot of your porn"

"Lovely" He raised his eyebrows and laughed "Did you find any?"

"Nah course not" She thought for a moment "Mind, there wasn't much for him _to_ know really, was there? Anyhow they was all wrong, still going on and on about me and poor old Smurf and Eggy was one of them who seemed to be convinced and well, I sort of let them, let him, think it. I were so shit scared that someone would work out about you, well someone apart from Quaseem cos I think he knew"

"I think you're right"

"Although I wasn't half as shit scared about that as I was that some'ing was gonna happen to you, some'ing more than it had already I mean, I was so scared that you was going to die, I thought I would never get a chance to even tell you ….."

"Hey, didn't happen did it? and we both know why not, so I'm not going to go on about it, not now, not when you've got the chance to tell me …. please"

The last couple of minutes of their conversation had become more and more disjointed with longer and longer pauses between words as their faces had got closer and closer together, sea green and deep brown eyes locked onto each other until they were whispering and struggling not to completely lose the thread of what they were saying.

The kiss was full of the longing that had built up over past two days, of the longing of the last two years the majority of which they'd spent out of touch, miles apart and of the six months before that when they'd spent their lives together in a very hot, dirty and dusty Afghanistan, a six months where all the feelings that built up between them were totally forbidden. Their kiss went on and on and got deeper and deeper as if they couldn't get enough of each other until they both had to come up for air and Charles started to shift around uncomfortably unable to hide just how affected he was by the last few minutes.

"I really think we should go to bed now, don't you? Well, once you've done what your mum asked and seen to the fire and the tree lights 'n that"

"Thought you'd never ask"

"Oi, never said I was going to go to bed with you, did I? Just that it was time to go to bed"

"Yes you did, well you might not have said it in so many words, but you did, you just told me"

"Yeah, did didn't I?"

Waiting by the door while he put the screen over the fire and turned off the lights was like being in some sort of dream for Molly. Not even in her wildest flights of fantasy over the past couple of years when her thoughts had got away from her and strayed back to him had she been able to conjure up anything approaching the reality of the last two days, especially the reality of the last hour or so. She was beginning to wonder whether she should pinch herself as they climbed the stairs side by side, hand in hand, with him turning his head occasionally to give her a smile, a smile that was filled with happiness.

-OG-

"Happy?" He moved his weight off her slightly and took her into his arms, pulling her as close to his side as he could get her then tucking her hair behind her ears.

"Course I am, you?

"What do you think?"

She wanted to dance round the room then go and find as many people as she could to high five and then to go and ring up everyone she knew just so that she could tell them how happy she was and how he'd made her feel and how much she adored him and wanted to be with him. At the same time she wanted to stay exactly where she was, naked and wrapped tightly in his arms, her legs and body entwined with his naked body exactly the way that she'd always dreamed, ever since those far off days in the FOB and she wanted to look at and _love_ the happy smile that was plastered across his face as he looked down at her.

"I think I'd better go in a minute"

"What? Where are you going?"

"Back to my own room, I mean, I can't stop here can I, what happens if your mum brings me in a cup of tea in the morning and I'm not there? And what if she comes in here? I mean, what will she think?"

"Well, if my mum takes you in a cup of tea and finds that you're not there, that your bed hasn't been slept in, then I think she'll have a pretty fair idea of where you are which means that she won't come in here, not that it would matter if she did, she'll just be happy for us, well she'll definitely be happy for me, she _likes_ you Molly"

"Well, what about Sam?"

"What about him? He won't come in either if that's what's worrying you, he always goes into his Grannie and Grandpop first thing, gets into their bed with them for a bit, then mum will take him downstairs and get his breakfast, but if he was to come in …" He shrugged and pulled the duvet over them, making sure that she was tucked into his side "Now just stop worrying and stop trying to escape, you're not going anywhere" He thought for a moment then looked at her, suddenly a bit unsure "You don't want to escape do you?"

"Nah, course not"

-OG-

It was the sound of a small and excited little boy chattering nineteen to the dozen to his grandmother outside on the landing that woke her next morning, their voices fading as the two of them disappeared downstairs. She was still wrapped around him and was warm and comfortable and above all else, happy.

"Morning gorgeous, did you sleep okay?" His voice was slightly husky and his eyes were soft as he smiled at her, stubble appearing on his chin.

"Morning, well, not bad apart from you doing all that fidgeting, all that bodging about, you mean?"

"Yes, apart from the bodging about, Oi, I do not fidget"

"Must of been me then, I'm not used to sleeping with someone who takes up so much space, in fact I'm not used to sleeping in the same bed as someone else"

What she was saying was the truth, she used to have sex with Paul, especially in the early days, not that often recently, but they both lived in barracks so there were no overnight stays, no sharing a bed all night, something she was glad about now.

"Yeah, course I slept okay, I was quite tired, can't think why"

"Would you like me to remind you?"

"Well I would but everyone else is up cos I just heard them moving about, so it might not be the best time, someone could come in here any minute"

"Shit ….. really?" He laughed "I'll get up in a minute, make us a drink"

"You'd better wait a minute" She looked down at him and laughed "Thought you told me you wasn't a fully functioning soldier till you'd had your first cup of coffee in the morning"

"Shut the fuck up" He was laughing "So, what do you want to do today, after I take Sammie home"

"I sorta told me mum I'd be home later on today, you know, when I spoke to her yesterday" She pulled a contrite face at the disappointment on his "Sorry, I didn't wanna, you know, stop here too long and get on anyone's nerves or nothing"

"Of course you want to go and see your family, I should have thought, and you could never get on my nerves or my mother's for that matter, there's nothing to be sorry about"

"Do you want to come with me, I mean you can if you like, if you want to that is, you don't have to or nothing, I won't mind if you don't want to"

"You know what? That's beginning to sound a lot like a Dawsey special to me" He kissed her lightly "Of course I want to come with you, if you want me to and if you're sure it'll be okay with your family, and you know what else? I'm really sorry that I stink, I need a shower"

"You don't stink"

"Yes I do"

-OG-

"I won't be long"

He leaned forward to where she was sitting on the edge of the kitchen table swinging her legs and grinning at him then kissed her briefly, went towards the door, changed his mind and went back to kiss her again, then walked backwards towards the kitchen door as Molly giggled and Sam kept up a steady barrage of yelling from the hallway.

"Have you got All my stuff, Daddy?"

"Yup"

"I mean, ALL OF IT, every bit, ALL the Lego that Grannie and Grandpop gave me?"

"Yup"

"ARE YOU SURE? Did you get ALL OF IT from off the carpet in Grannie's bedroom?"

"Sam, I've got all of it, so stop shouting, go and say goodbye to Molly and kiss Grannie and Grandpop again and then we're off"

"Bye Molly" Sam popped his head round the door, already moving off as he spoke and Charles came back and kissed her again "I'll be back in a bit"

"Go, go on, just go"

-OG-

" I hate Boxing Day" Margaret sounded really low, a mood Molly certainly hadn't seen her in before, as she bustled about getting potatoes to peel and sorting carrots and sprouts for lunch.

"Do you?

"Well not really I suppose, but once Christmas Day is over for another year and everyone starts going home it feels like such an anti-climax. Sam has gone and I miss him badly when he goes and now you're going" She turned and looked at Molly "Don't look like that, dear, of course you want to go and see your family, but just don't be a stranger, will you?"

"Charles will be coming back but I've gotta go back tomorrow anyhow, me leave's all done, gotta get back to work"

"I know Charles will be back but it won't be the same without you, dear" Margaret patted her knee where she was still sitting on the edge of the kitchen table and laughed "I've always wanted a daughter, mind you, I don't think Charles would be very impressed if I adopted you, do you?"

"Not only Charles, me mum might have some'ing to say about that as well" Molly jumped down from the table to give Margaret a hug, laughing as she wondered why Rebecca didn't get a look in, she'd been Margaret's daughter-in-law after all.

"Does that mean you won't see each other till your next leave?" Margaret sounded appalled "Sorry, dear, that's none of my business"

"Dunno"

-OG-

"Mum it's me, no, course there's nothing wrong, it's just that I wanted to tell you that I'm bringing someone home with me … "

-OG-

"You know this is nothing like where you live don't you? It's not posh, in fact, it's rough as a badgers arse round here, well you can see that for yourself, can't you? And the flat is a bit ….. well, it's well crowded 'n that and a bit tatty I s'pose. I'm sorry there's no room for you to stop tonight, I've only got the bottom bunk 'n me sister goes in the top, so ….. "

"Stop worrying, I told you before Dawsey, it's only bricks and mortar and I'm more worried that your parents won't like me, although I don't pick my nose or fart when I sit down, at least I don't think I do ….. that's better" He laughed as Molly started to giggle "And Bath is my parents' house, not mine. It will be one day of course, they can't sell it, it's what they called entailed, which means it doesn't ever belong to anyone, they have to pass it on if they want to go and live somewhere else"

-OG-

The concrete stairway up to the maisonette smelled revoltingly familiar to Molly, the combination of curry and cabbage water, rotting rubbish, vomit and the over-riding smell of piss made her shudder as she warned Charles to hold his breath until they got to the top. Whenever she came back after a spell away she was taken aback by the sheer stink of it, but Charles didn't turn a hair, just held onto her hand and squeezed it as they walked up to the flat.

"Mum, this is who I were telling you about, Charles, this is me mum, Belinda"

"Hello, Mrs Dawes, it's lovely to meet you, I used to hear so much about you when we were in Afghanistan, Molly used to talk about you all the time"

"What? You're a soldier, you were in Afghanistan with our Molls?"

"Yeah mum, he were me boss"

"I thought your boss was that coloured bloke, the nice one with a funny name"

"What, Eggy?" Molly laughed and put her hand out to touch her mother's arm as Belinda nodded "Nah, well yeah, he was sort of, but Charles were his boss, everyone's boss really"

"Who's this? It's not Paul unless he's grown about a foot" Charles turned to look at the new arrival "And had a lot of plastic surgery by the looks of it, mind you if he has, it was worth every bleeding penny"

"Nan!" Molly couldn't help the happy giggle that escaped "This is Charles, Charles, this is me Nan, Mrs …"

"Marge" Nan interrupted her granddaughter "But me friends call me Nan"

"Hello Nan, I've heard all about you as well"

"Where did you find this one, Molls, bit bleeding posh inne?"

"He's in the army like our Molls, they was in Afghanistan together, well he were her boss"

"Thought it were that other bloke was her boss" Nan shook her head "The one we met at that medal thing"

"Charles was everyone's boss and he couldn't be at the medal ceremony, he were injured, in hospital, otherwise he would of been there"

"Indeed, the only thing that stopped me being there was that I couldn't stand up or walk"

"Okay, so where you been hiding since then? This is the first we've heard of you"

"Gawd, Nan, Mum will you tell her please"

"Molly and I were pretty close when we were in Afghan" He put his hand out to get hold of hers "Then we lost touch after we came home, well until the other day that is, when she was in Bath, my parents live in Bath and we met up again in church"

"Nan, it's not what you're thinking, not that sort of close"

"Don't know how you kept your hands off of him looking the way he does, so" Nan looked him up and down then turned back to Molly" "Now, let me get this straight, you went to Bath with Paul, for Christmas, then you upped and went off with him, with Charles?"

"Nan stop it, you're being embarrassing, and anyhow it sounds a bit bad when you put it like that, dunnit?"

"He's not embarrassed, and I don't blame you, Molls, cos that Paul, well he's a boring bugger isn't he?"

"You are right, _she is_ just like my mum"

An hour or so later, Belinda went into the kitchen, a worried look on her face as she gestured Molly to follow her for a private chat.

"Where we gonna put him Molls?"

"Nowhere, actually, Mum if you don't mind, I might go home with him, if that's okay?"

"Course it is, he's lovely even if he is a bit on the posh side, mind you, if I was you I'd get him out of here before your Nan hi-jacks him completely"

-OG-

"Where we going?"

"I've got this little flat in Ash, it'll be freezing bloody cold because the heating's off and we need to get some milk and some bread"

"And tea bags and I thought you lived in barracks"

"Christ no, what? with all those soldiers?" He pretended to shudder, then laughed "Well, only sometimes when I have to and okay, yes, we do need tea bags"

-OG-

"You mum said she wants to adopt me"

"What? She can't do that, that'd make you my sister and make this incest"

"What?"

"This"


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N: Thank you for all the kind words you've sent me for this story, I tried very hard to make it festive and 'feel good' and fingers crossed that that's worked for those reading it as much as it has for me writing it. May possibly go back and do Valentines after Christmas when everything feels a bit grey and flat and I need a bit of a romantic wallow!**_

 _ **-OG-**_

 _ **NEW YEAR'S EVE**_

"What do you think? Do I look okay?"

"Of course you do, no you don't, you look shit, bloody awful" Emma laughed "You cow, you look better in my bleeding dress than I do, mind you, at least my dress is going to a party even if I'm not"

"I'm really sorry you've gotta work and I've got the night off" Molly smirked at her "And it's really good of you to loan this to me, you know I'm grateful don't you? else I'd of had to go out and buy some'ing, and it wouldn't of been nearly as nice, I could never of afforded some'ing like this, just like I've never been to a dinner in the Officer's Mess before, not bloody sure I wanna go to one now, actually"

"You're not sorry at all, and alright don't keep going on and on, I know it's not your fault that my dress is going to the sodding party and I'm not and I'm really not jealous that he's bloody gorgeous, or so everyone says, but you do need to stop talking bollocks now cause I've got one nerve left and you're getting on it, you'll have a great time" She paused, grinned and looked at her roommate "It's just a date, innit? A date like any other date and you haven't stopped talking about him all week, so …. " She paused again "Are you really wearing those shoes? Can you even bloody walk in them?"

"Nearly" Molly giggled "They're Claire's, she said I could have a borrow, I know they're a little bit on the big side, but I've gotta wear really high heels cos he's about seven foot six and there's gonna be dancing later, I don't wanna look like a little girl what's dancing with her dad"

"You won't look like anyone dancing with anyone if you break your bloody neck trying to walk in them"

"It'll be fine"

She hadn't seen him since Boxing Day, well not since the morning after anyway, five whole days. Five whole days too long as far as Molly was concerned, although he'd sent her dozens of texts since then and had called her every morning and every evening, just to say good morning or goodnight and to tell her how much he was missing her. In spite of his texts some of her confidence in him, in them, had started to drain away a bit and she'd begun to question just how much of what had happened between them was because of it being Christmas and the fact that they had all this history and everyone knows that everyone gets a bit 'carried away' at Christmas. She couldn't help remembering a time when he'd sent her on R&R and she'd been so sure that he was thinking about her day and night the way she'd been thinking about him, only for it all to go to shit when she got back. Okay, so this was a bit different, he'd said he loved her and he'd never said that before, well he hadn't said it, he'd put it in his letter, but still …..

In one of his texts he'd asked her if she wanted him to accept an invitation for them to go to the New Year's party in the Officers' Mess at Pirbright, saying that they wouldn't go if she didn't want to, and despite the fact that she desperately wanted to see him, and had said _yes,_ she wasn't what you would call looking forward to it. Apart from not owning anything even remotely suitable to wear, she had this horrible feeling that she was about to spend a whole evening looking like a total muppet and being a complete fish out of water.

Emma had come to the rescue with her one and only long dress, plain black velvet, or something pretending to be velvet but wasn't, which, although it had a low neck, was quite classy and which fortunately fitted Molly as if it had been made for her, in fact Emma was right when she'd said it fitted Molly much better than it did her. Molly was slightly slimmer but had more of a bust so she was happy with the way she looked. She just wasn't happy with the way she felt about spending the evening, New Year's Eve at that, with a bunch of bloody Ruperts and their partners who, she was completely convinced, would all be snotty cows who would look down on her and that no-one, apart from Charles, would speak to her. She wished now that she'd said a big fat _no_ when he'd asked her if she wanted to go, that it was just going to be the two of them spending time together, in the pub if nowhere else.

A deep breath and a visit to the Ladies loos for one last nervous pee before she went in to find him meant that she had a chance to check her appearance…..… again …. , he'd been going to collect her so that they could go together, they'd had it all sorted out, until a major pile up on the M5 meant that he was stuck for hours in a complete bastard of a traffic jam. His 'reassuring' phone calls had got more and more filled with doubt as time had ticked by and it was beginning to get more and more obvious that he was going to be extremely hard-pushed to get back to barracks, shower, change into his Mess Uniform, which was already hanging in his locker, then drive over and collect her and still get to the mess in time for the start of the dinner. For a few minutes she'd been filled with the gleeful thought that they might perhaps be too late and that they could then give it a miss altogether, but he'd called her to say that he'd finally got there and that a taxi was on its way to pick her up, would be there in about ten minutes. She wasn't that sorry now that she was on her own going in, she didn't know if she was up to listening to one of his boss man lectures about Dawsey specials right now.

-OG-

One advantage of going out with someone who's about seven foot six tall was that she was able to spot him as soon as she arrived in the doorway, and that was in spite of the fact that all the men in the room were wearing identical red mess jackets, which looked gorgeous, but he was easy to single out because he stood head and shoulders taller than any of the others. As far as Molly was concerned, he also looked more totally drop dead gorgeous than any of the rest.

He spotted her almost the minute she arrived, and his face broke into a massive grin as he obviously cut short his conversation with the group he was with, and strode across the floor to where she was waiting as she shrugged and smiled at him, biting her bottom lip. It was a bit of a struggle to control the huge surge of adrenalin that flooded her body when she saw him, she wanted to fling her arms round him, it had been a very, very long week apart, it had felt like forever.

"Hello, sorry that you had to get here on your own" He bent and kissed her cheek "My God you look amazing, absolutely _beautiful,_ that dress is lovely"

"Thanks, I'll tell Emma" She giggled "She'll be pleased, she said that her dress would have a nice time" Molly still had a huge smirk on her face; it almost matched his as he bent his head and kissed her cheek again.

"What, the dress isn't yours? Looks like it's yours"

"Nah, never had much call for black velvet before"

"Well it looks lovely on you" He stood back slightly with a quizzical look on his face, holding her at arm's length and looking her up and down "Have you grown this week? You seem a lot taller, or is that the dress that makes you look taller?"

"Nah, numpty, it's me bloody shoes, see, got me stilettos on" She pulled up the skirt of the dress slightly to show him her foot as she lifted it up and twirled it round and considered reminding him of the time when he'd accused her of wanting to wear stilettos to do a 5k run and then decided he would most likely remember it for himself "Well, they're not actually mine neither, I don't even own any, not like you said once upon a time" She remembered her resolution a fraction after the words left her mouth "I had to borrow these as well" She looked up at him and fluttered her eyelashes "I'm wearing them to make me a bit taller, seeing as how you're about nine foot tall, mind you, I can't walk in them so you might have to carry me"

"Any time" He raised both eyebrows and pretended to leer "And I'm not nine foot tall, it's just that you're, what is it my mother calls you? A little dot"

"You know everyone's looking at us, don't you? They think you've pulled"

"Do they? Oh God, I do hope they're right" He smirked then laughed out loud "That I've pulled, I mean"

"You might of done, play your cards right and you never know your luck, do you?"

"Lady Luck has been bloody good to me recently"

-OG-

The meal had been on the good side of average, most people were pretty sick of turkey and stuffing so why the fuck that was what they served was beyond Molly, but the wine was nice, very nice , and she was aware that it might just possibly be slipping down a little bit too easily. The trifle was okay, she was just glad it wasn't more bloody Christmas pudding, she thought she would scream if she saw any more dried fruity, spicy, stodgy stuff with cream, it was beginning to attract a yuk as far as she was concerned.

Three drinks in and she began to thoroughly enjoy herself. The evening that she'd dreaded so much actually started to fly by, one of the first things that she'd said to Charles when she'd arrived was that she wouldn't get hammered, so that he'd stared at her, lifted one eyebrow and asked her why the hell not? It was New Year's Eve and everyone else would be on a mission to get thoroughly pissed, and in fact, he had every intention of doing just that himself, not that she actually believed him, she sort of knew that he would stay sober regardless of what she did and that he would look after her which was a really lovely and comforting feeling.

She'd never realised before just how lovely it was to be out with someone who surrounded you with their care and concern, someone that looked out for you all the time, made sure that you were enjoying yourself and introduced you to everyone as his girlfriend as though he was proud to be with you. The first time he'd referred to her as his girlfriend had been when he'd introduced her to Caroline and she'd thought he must be winding his grandmother up, but this time it was totally different. This time it was if he was telling the world that they were a couple, something that had once seemed to be way beyond her wildest dreams.

If she'd been blind she might have missed the little envy filled sideways glances she was attracting from some of the 'plus ones' who were with other Officers, not that it surprised her, he really was far and away the best looking bloke in the room, but what did come as a bit of a surprise were the looks of something that also appeared to be envy that were being directed towards Charles from some of the other men, something that he didn't miss, something, with a typical display of male ego, which made him smirk.

They danced and to Molly it felt a bit like she was floating around the room, alright he was a bit too tall for comfort so that she got a tiny crick in her neck and her feet were killing her, Claire's shoes were definitely a whole size too big, and scrunching up her toes to try and stop them slipping off was bleeding hard work, so that her calf muscles were hurting badly, but nothing, not even the extreme discomfort in her feet and legs, could spoil the way she felt. Neither of them could dance very well, it wasn't the type of dancing she was used to, or as Molly giggled to him 'not exactly Strictly are we? so that he laughed, a highly relieved laugh, and asked if they could sit down soon before he stood on her toes and ruined whoever's shoes she was wearing.

"What we doing tomorrow? I mean, what time we going to your mum and dad?"

"Not too early, I don't think they'll expect us to be early" He smirked then tried to load his voice with innuendo "They won't expect us to get up at the crack of bloody dawn, anyhow I thought you'd want to pop in and see your mum and the rest of the family first, wish them a happy New Year"

"You just wanna go and flirt with me Nan again, make it so as I have to listen to her chatting you up and watch her fawning all over you"

"Bugger, you've noticed"

The closer it got to the chimes of midnight the more raucous and boozy the party got, something that surprised Molly a bit, she'd thought that Officers would behave a bit better than squaddies, but there was no differences that she could see between this lot in their formal red jackets and 2-section at their absolute worst, and some of the wives and girlfriends weren't far behind.

"Some of this lot are gonna feel lovely in the morning" She pulled a face and giggled as she watched one young officer stumble across the room, taking three steps forward and then one back and sideways as he tried to make it back to his table to sit down without falling down on the way.

"Serves 'em right" Charles growled and shook his head "Shall we push off as soon as we hear Big Ben, before this lot start throwing up to add to the fun"

"Yeah, okay"

They joined in Auld Lang Syne but didn't join in with the general melee of drunken kissing and hugging. They preferred instead to stand on their own on the edge of the throng, eyes only for each other, arms round each other, totally oblivious to the noisy crowd of revellers.

"Happy New Year"

"Happy New Year to you too"

"That's it done for another year, this has been the best Christmas I can remember"

"Yeah, ditto"

-OG-

Sitting in the car while he put the keys in the ignition ready to drive to the flat, he suddenly turned and looked at her.

"This time last year I'd just come out of Headley, and I already knew I'd fucked things up badly, but by the time I'd worked out that I was being a total dick and that I wasn't going to be able to get you out of my head no matter what I did, I went out for a drink with the lads and they were full of how you'd met him, how romantic it all was, how happy the two of you were together, how they hoped they'd get invites to the wedding and every word was like someone bloody stabbed me"

"Most of the time 2-Section talk out of their arses and then they get all carried away like they're running match dot com, but it's ALL complete bollocks, it always has been, you know that"

He started the car as Molly put her hand across and rested it on his arm and he smiled back. They didn't say anything at all during the short drive to the flat, Charles because he was concentrating very hard on not running down any of the groups of drunken soldiers walking or rather staggering, around the garrison town and Molly because she didn't want to distract him, nor was she sure what she wanted to say.

The silence when he killed the engine was total as they sat and looked at each other before he started speaking again.

"When Dad retired from the Service he got very involved in Rotary, I always thought it was to get away from mum actually" He laughed "Every year when they've run that carol thing for the kids, he's asked me to do a reading, well every year that I've been home, because believe it or not, he hates public speaking, gets very nervous. And every year that I can, I've done it, but this year was different. I stood in that pulpit and started reading and then I looked up, the body of the church was all in darkness, but I knew that there were a lot of people sitting there, watching and listening, even if you can't see them you know they're there, you can almost hear them breathing, but then I actually saw a face, a face that I thought I would never see again. A face that I'd been doing my absolute best to try and forget over the past year, a face that belongs to someone I loved, and lost, or bloody well threw away, and in that moment I knew that you were still the only thing that matters to me. I knew, just like in that bunker, that you were always going to be the last thing I wanted to see and that that would never change, it was going to be like that for the rest of my life because I love you" They started to get out of the car.

"Ditto"

"Ditto? Bloody ditto? Is that it? I expected something a bit more romantic than ditto" He laughed as he quoted her words from long ago.

"I love you too, you know that, same as you know that I've always loved you, ever since you used to get mad and yell at me for not following orders, and I knew that what you really wanted to do was hug me and kiss me instead"

"Yup, can't deny that" He turned to unlock the door so that they could go inside out of the chill of the night, then put his head back and laughed out loud, his laughter full of joy as it rang out in the frosty silence "This is going to be a brilliant year Molly, _the best,_ you know that don't you?" He lifted her up holding her high above his head, her hair falling down on both sides of her face so that it brushed his shoulders, then spun her round, their faces wreathed in matching grins.

"Charles?"

"Hmm?"

"Can you put me down please?" She giggled "Claire's shoes have just fallen off 'n I need to pick them up cos I've gotta give 'em back"

-OG-

 _ **I hope that everyone has a really lovely Christmas and a Happy New Year, and once again, thanks for the wonderful support you've given me all year for the scribblings from my parallel universe, hopefully see you after Christmas. xxx**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N: Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas as we did, now getting our canine terrorist back into her usual routine so that life will, hopefully, be getting back to normal. Here as promised is the penultimate chapter, the next will be Valentines and life afterwards and will be up tomorrow, or maybe later today if I can just crack the last little paragraph.**_

 _ **A BIRTHDAY PARTY**_

The evening hadn't started well. Just over three weeks ago from New Year, almost the end of January and the weather was horrible, cold, wet and miserable and the atmosphere in the car wasn't much better. They were waiting to pull out of the car park outside 2 Field where she was stationed and he was drumming his fingers irritably on the steering wheel, impatience getting the better of him. They were late setting off for Bath, because she'd been late and had kept him waiting for quite a while outside barracks, so that he'd been leaning up against the side of his car frowning up at the building, as if that was going to make a scrap of difference, and then looking down at his watch pointedly when she'd rushed out of the door, bag over one shoulder, coat half on and almost hopping as she was still trying to do up the ankle strap of her new heels. He'd greeted her with a _"Chop, chop, where the hell have you been? Come on, we're going to be late_ " as he'd grabbed her weekend bag and thrown it in the back of the car.

A party, a surprise birthday bash for Margaret in a posh restaurant and Molly had been anxious that he should be proud of her, this was the first time they'd been to any family type 'do' as a couple. She'd been really excited when she'd been out with Emma and bought the pale grey dress she was wearing, the most expensive bit of clothing she'd ever owned and the new shoes, very high heeled to minimise their height difference, shoes that fitted her so that she could walk in them, and now it all felt like such a massive bleeding waste of time and money, he hadn't even noticed.

"Sorry you had to wait" She did her best to keep the snippy, ' _I don't mean a fucking word I just said'_ or a whiney ' _don't pick on me'_ tone out of her voice "But it weren't my fault, I couldn't help it"

"I'm not mad at you"

"Yeah you are, you'd only talk to me like that if I was in the shit"

"Like what?"

"Like you was still me boss"

She looked across at him and pulled a face, she didn't like his Captain Miserable Arse act one little bit, she hadn't seen it in the few weeks since they'd got together but now had very clear memories from when he'd been in a strop about something in the past and she was beginning to wish that she wasn't going to the bloody party, it felt like it could be a disaster waiting to happen with him in this mood. It was okay for him, if he wanted to get off early or even to just get off on time, he just did, just packed up, might of said 'Bye, I'm off now' but didn't have to, and then just fucked off. Even if he was in the middle of something he could pass it over to some other fucker and tell them to sort it, but he knew only too well that it was a completely different ball bag for her, it didn't matter who her boyfriend was, or what his plans were, she had to wait until someone dismissed her, said she could go…. .

"Sorry" He didn't sound particularly sorry but at least he'd said it.

"I were late getting off, we had this patient arrive just when I were finishing and the old hag wouldn't let me go till he was all settled, she wouldn't dismiss me 'n I'm sorry …..Okay?" She put her hand out ready to pat his knee then thought better of it "Is that better? Cos I dunno what else I can say?" She paused to think for a moment "You know, I reckon she's really got it in for me, there was loads of CMTs that could of done it, but nah, had to be me didn't it? She knew I wanted to get off, and then she started having a pop at me cos I was maybe a bit ….. well, you know, a little bit upset and you'd think I were used to getting bollocked by now wouldn't you? Had enough bleeding practice" She sighed as she tried, and failed, to sound both misunderstood and cruelly hard done by and wondered whether it was worth trying to squeeze out some tears, but they would be tears of rage, nothing else and her mascara would end up decorating her face "Then I had to get changed, didn't I? So, do I look okay? You haven't said …. "

"I'm not mad at you, I'm never mad at you" He still sounded irritated, a tone of voice that she remembered only too well from their days in Afghan, a tone of voice that he'd once used to good effect to slap her down when she'd gone too far in answering him back "And you look very beautiful" He took a deep breath, obviously trying to get himself under control "And you're here now"

He pulled out into the stream of traffic heading towards the M3 "Do you want me to arrange for someone to pay her a little visit, break her legs, I can if you want me to?"

"Yeah, could you? That'd be really good"

"As soon as we get back then, okay?"

"Thanks"

After driving in silence for a while, his smile when he'd offered to sort out her NCO had long since vanished and it felt like hours to Molly, but was actually no more than an hour, he pulled into the Services and parked, not in one of the queues for the petrol pumps, but in the car park proper, pulling on the handbrake and killing the engine, filling Molly with a sense of foreboding.

"What you doing, I thought we was in a hurry?"

"Not that much of a hurry, I want to know why you keep looking at me like that"

"I'm being focussed" She opened her eyes as wide as she could and smiled at him "I'm staying alert as well …" He leaned across as far as his seatbelt would allow so that he could kiss her on the cheek.

"I'm sorry, I was so busy being bloody impatient that I forgot to kiss you" He moved back and unclipped his seatbelt all ready to get out "Let's get a coffee, I think we need a bit of a chat before we get there"

-OG-

The shopping trip with Em had been fun, they'd had a couple of glasses of wine, an essential pre-cursor before braving 'late night shopping' at the Centrale then Whitgift Centres in Croydon, especially in the January _Sales,_ so they'd been able to giggle their way round Karen Millen, Mango and Zara and had been completely unable to find Monsoon which Emma swore blind was hiding there somewhere, until they'd found 'the' dress and then 'the' shoes.

They'd been in his bed together when she'd expressed her huge reservations about going to the party, that she was worried about only knowing Margaret for five minutes, that she'd only spent Christmas and New Year's Day with her so it wasn't like they'd known each other forever, shared a few shopping trips or downed a bottle of wine together. He'd propped himself on one elbow and laughed as he told her that he wouldn't dare turn up on his own, that it would be more than his life would be worth if he left her behind, and anyway his mother would make him drive up and collect her.

"Who else has your dad asked?"

"Not sure, well, I'm almost sure he'll have asked Gran"

"Oh that'll make Margaret's day" She'd sniggered happily.

"Well, he couldn't not, could he? Mum doesn't really hate her ….. " He said doubtfully, pulling a face "And Betsy and Graham, maybe their daughter and her husband, don't know about anyone else"

"It's getting better and better"

"Are you taking the piss?"

"Me? Course not, I wouldn't dare Boss"

"Stop it"

"Stop what?"

The discussion had ended there when he'd held her down and demanded that she apologise for calling him Boss, threatening, with a wicked smirk on his face, to torture her until she did, restraint that had quickly become something totally different, so that all discussions about the party had got lost somewhere when she'd started to giggle "Yes please" and "Is that a promise?"

That had been two short weeks ago, and now they were sitting in a Services on the A303 late in the gloom of a wet Friday afternoon surrounded by miserable looking people with noisy badly behaved kids all sitting at sticky tables as Molly watched him get drinks and waited for the axe to fall, because this was what she'd been dreading. It was the first time she'd admitted to herself that their relationship was difficult for her to actually _believe in_ that for the last week or so whenever she'd been alone in her pit, or anywhere else for that matter, she'd begun her 'looking for clues' exercise.

Every time she'd been in any sort of relationship that might possibly end up being important and the first flush of getting together was over she would begin to be afraid it was all going tits up, but it wasn't usually this quick, it normally took about three months before things started to fall to shit. Sometimes she'd looked at herself, at what she'd said or done and what she'd actually meant, like with Paul, or like now, when, hard as she'd tried not to, she'd begun looking at him in a sort of forensic examination of every little thing he'd said, or done, looking for underlying meaning or a hidden agenda, for the proof that she was right to be afraid, and right now she was, very afraid.

"Molly?" He put the cups down and tipped her chin up with his finger, then held it so that she had no choice but to look him in the face "What's wrong?"

"I were going to say the same thing to you? I really couldn't help it you know and I've said I'm sorry"

"What for? Why are you sorry?" He took a deep breath "It's not you, you haven't done anything, it's me"

"And ….…"

"And ….?" He shook his head slightly then shrugged and lifted his eyebrows as he asked the question "And what?"

"This ain't working, is it?" or "You deserve better than this" or some other shit, that's what you're gonna say next innit? cos that's what people say next when they tell you it's them not you. What they really mean is "Thanks very much it's been great, could you just piss off now?"

"What the fuck are you talking about?" He shook his head again then rubbed through the curls on the back of his neck as he looked at her, impatient Captain Miserable Arse written all over his face "That's not true, not a word of it. I meant what I said, you haven't done anything, it was just me being moody and I'm sorry"

"Well, does that mean you're not gonna dump me?"

"Why on earth would you think I'd want to dump you? No, don't answer that" He put a hand up as if to shut her up, then shook his head disbelievingly and smiled "How old are you now Molly? 23?"

"Ish" She ignored the inconvenient fact that it was more than 8 months till her 23rd birthday.

He laughed "When I was 23 ….ish….. I'd done Uni and Sandhurst and got my first posting, thought I was going to conquer the world" He looked at her, his face suddenly completely serious "And I was convinced I was in love, I would carry on being in the army doing the job I love and she would always be there waiting around when I got back, the whole bloody nine yards …." He shrugged "And look where we are now"

"What you trying to say? Cos all that is very sad 'n that, but it's got bugger-all to do with how old I am, I'm not Rebecca"

"No, of course you're not, it's just that 23 is ….. well, very young and I'm worried because it's odds on you'll change your mind about me, we started out with everything between us being very ….. difficult, what with me being your boss and telling you what to do all the time and you having to do as you were told and ….…"

"Don't worry I never took no notice of all that bollocks" She giggled as she interrupted him, full of overwhelming relief that he wasn't trying to get rid of her "I'm not gonna change me mind ….. and I'm not 23 either, more like 22 actually"

"Fuck, it's getting worse"

"Nah, everyone knows that girls mature much quicker than boys, so I reckon we're near enough the same age, you know, give or take a bit"

"Maybe" He raised an eyebrow as her giggling began to force a smile to his lips "Look, what I wanted to tell you was not to panic if Mum starts going on about the house, she wants to move somewhere else, fuck knows where, but she says its time. She's been saying for years that she wasn't going to let Rebecca get her greedy mitts on it, and now Dad says she's started to say that you … well that you're different, but I know that you're not going to want to sit in that place on your own waiting for me to come home from work, and it's far too far for you carry on at 2 Field and go backwards and forwards, so … "He shrugged with a rueful expression on his face.

"And I can't drive"

"And you can't drive"

-OG-

He opened her car door and then did up the top button of her coat, sighing deeply and pulling her closer as he held onto the lapels for a minute, then put his hands under her hair to cup her face "I know I didn't tell you earlier, I was far too busy being a bloody misery, but you look gorgeous tonight and I don't deserve you and we're going to have a lovely evening …. have I forgotten anything?"

"Nah, yeah, you haven't kissed me and then I think we better get our arses back in the car, I'm getting bloody frozen out here and me hair's getting wet"

"I'm sorry" He lifted her chin again so that he could look into her eyes then kissed her "Am I forgiven yet?"

"Yeah, I s'pose, well I'll think about it" She kissed him on the chin "Trouble is I'm a bloody pushover aren't I? so, yeah, course you are"

-OG-

"Looks like a nice place"

"What the Bailbrook? Yes it is, it's Mum's favourite"

He took her coat and gave it to the 'greeter' who was about to show them through to where their party was sitting, waiting.

"This is well nice too innit?"

"Yes it is" He kept his hands on her shoulders as she stopped in front of him behind the 'greeter', and leaned back slightly, looking around at the cheerful buzz of the room "Yup it's lovely, tell you what, I'll bring you here on our own, just you and me" He leaned forward and kissed the top of her head so that she looked back up at him and smiled, her whole body again washed with relief that they were still together.

"That'll be nice"

Margaret, Bill and Caroline, together with another couple who Molly assumed were Pat and her husband, but who turned out to be Margaret's best friend Helen and her partner, were sitting at the end of the room and Margaret's whole face lit up with a beaming smile when she caught sight of her son and Molly threading their way towards the table.

"You're late and why didn't one of you tell me about this?" She got out of her chair slightly as Charles bent to kiss her cheek then leaned forward so that Molly could reach her across the table "It's so lovely to see you dear, but if this ever happens again, if either of these two stupid buggers gets this sort of bright idea, don't take any notice of anything they say to you, just ring me, I might have wanted a very expensive piece of jewellery instead"

"Mum, stop it, it wouldn't have been a surprise if we'd rung you, would it? And stop being so bloody ungrateful, I know Dad got you jewellery as well, and you look lovely" He stepped back and added "I suppose you won't want this then?" He held the beautifully wrapped silver photograph frame that they'd found in an antique shop, the cost of which had made Molly gulp, just out of her reach and added "Happy birthday"

"Stop being horrible to your mother and give it here, I'm allowed to be a bit of a bugger today, it's my birthday"

Margaret pulled a face as she burst out laughing with her son, no-one seemed to have taken any offence at what she'd said, even Bill had laughed uproariously as Molly looked anxiously from one face to the other. She knew if that had been someone in her family they would have thrown a massive strop if their present wasn't appreciated, even if the person was only joking and didn't mean it, mind you no-one in her lot would get involved in sorting secret parties for her mum in the first place, and Belinda would probably prefer to have the money instead, which suddenly struck her as more than a bit sad.

-OG-

The party had been a very happy gathering, Margaret had loved the photo frame and had then insisted that Molly sit next to her while she spent the evening whispering very 'judgy' comments in her ear about everyone else in the place, so that Molly had giggled until her sides hurt. The evening had climaxed with the appearance of a birthday cake and a very noisy rendition of 'Happy Birthday', which Charles sang beautifully in tune and everyone else rivalled Molly's cat-strangling impression.

They'd been sober when they'd come to bed, well he'd been 100% stone cold sober, because he'd been driving and Molly had only had enough wine to be sociable, so she was very far from pissed, but they'd been greedy and unrestrained when they'd made love, both needing to erase stuff from the day. It was now the early hours and he was flat out as she lay there listening to his steady breathing and wondering why Margaret hadn't mentioned anything about the house or moving, she was now worried that it was a sign his mum had changed her mind, that she'd decided she no longer wanted to move out so that Molly could live here with her son.

And at the end of the day, was it even going to be possible, even if he wanted her to be there with him and he hadn't said anything like that had he? And even if he did want her to and did ask her, was it what she wanted?


	8. Chapter 8

_**A/N: This is the happy ever after bit and I do hope you have enjoyed my little wallow …. I am busy turning Blind Date into a multi-chapter story, so hopefully see you soon …..**_

 _ **Happy New Year to everyone**_

 _ **VALENTINES DAY**_

"What we doin' here?" Molly looked around at the front of the hotel "I thought we was going to your mum and dad's for the weekend"

"Of course not, what, you think I can't be romantic, is that it?" He laughed and kissed the tip of her nose as she stood looking up at him in front of the hotel.

"Nah, course not" She thought for a minute "Well yeah actually, you're right, that is what I think, sorry"

"Lovely" He pretended to huff as he pulled a 'I'm so misunderstood and hard done by' face accompanied by his puppy dog eyes, making Molly laugh "I promised that I'd bring you here on our own and here we are, you know that I always keep my promises"

He picked up their weekend bags with one hand and put his other arm round her urging her to walk towards the hotel entrance "Let's go and see if they can squeeze us in somewhere, shall we? a single or a room over the kitchens or something?"

"You'd better be winding me up" She giggled "Although come to think of it, a single sounds like it could be okay, could be fun"

The room was impressive with its giant four poster bed and the flowers, a dozen red roses in a cut glass bowl and another single red rose on the bed with a heart shaped box of chocolates on the side table, so that Molly stood and stared around with her eyes open as wide as she could get them and then realised that he had the same sort of expression plastered all over his face.

"It's lovely, innit? The room 'n the rest, thank you" She looked at his face "Why you looking like that? Didn't you sort all this, the flowers 'n that? Cos I gotta say, you look a bit shocked"

"Yup, well in a way, they asked me when I booked if I wanted the full Valentine's package and I said, yep of course I did, and sorry, that was probably far more than you wanted to know, …. and it was a bit unromantic of me, wasn't it? telling you that" He turned her round to face him "I should have pretended it was all my idea, but I wanted it to be perfect and I know what you're going to say now, you always say you don't do perfect, but I wanted you to know that you're wrong"

"Well, if I did, this would be the sort of thing that's perfect, so thank you"

"You're welcome" He grinned "Now, the table for dinner is booked for eight, so have you got any idea about what you'd like to do till then?"

"Can't think of anything"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah I'm sure, can't think of nothing at all"

"How bloody disappointing"

-OG-

"Are you hungry? Because I'm starving"

"Yeah, am a bit, how do I look?"

"Amazing, you always look amazing," He tucked her hair behind her ear "You know the first time I ever clapped eyes on you, you were wearing combats and you , you cheeky little ….. were giggling at me and I thought you looked beautiful, even then when I was so annoyed with you, mind you if I'd known quite how much trouble you were going to be, I wouldn't have hesitated, I would have lobbed you out of that plane without a second thought"

"No, you wouldn't"

"Yes I would and then you wouldn't have been able to scare the shit out of me every five minutes the way you did" He laughed "No alright, I wouldn't, because then I wouldn't have been able to see you every day or watch you dance round with tinsel in your bloody hair or even been able to write on your arm"

"The R&R weren't my idea, it was yours, I didn't wanna go and I never washed that writing off, it just faded and then, I came back and you were horrible to me"

"I know, I'm sorry, have I said I'm sorry before? God, I was so bloody jealous that day" He shook his head as he apologised as he always did whenever they spoke about that day, and they both remembered but didn't mention Smurf even though he was there, part of the day "And I wouldn't have been able to look at you when that thunder made us all think it was bloody curtains, and then I wouldn't have realised that you were all I cared about, and that has never changed, it never will, you're still all I care about"

"Soppy bugger" Molly could feel the blush start creeping up her cheeks "Hey, don't stop, I like it when you say stuff like that"

"Stop taking the piss then"

"I'm not"

The whole of the dining room was set up as some sort of shrine to Valentine's day with low lighting and softly muted love songs as background music, and a single red rose in a glass vase in the centre of each table, tables that were laid with crisp white linen and silver cutlery, crystal glasses sparkling in the dim lighting, so that everyone in the room was whispering at the person they were with, talking at normal volume would have seemed wrong somehow.

They'd finished their champagne and were waiting for their starters when Charles produced the envelope from the inside pocket of his jacket.

"What's this? You've already sent me a card and don't say it weren't from you cos I'd know your writing anywhere"

"It's not a card"

"Well what is it then?"

"Open it and find out" He shook his head "God, you can be so annoying sometimes"

"I know"

She wrinkled her nose at him and then started to open the envelope very slowly and carefully, keeping eye contact with him until the very last moment when she pulled out a small stiff piece of card and looked at it, frowned, then looked back at him, then back at the card, momentarily lost for words as she looked at it again.

"It's driving lessons, a course, I would have booked the actual lessons but I thought it would probably be best if you did that bit yourself, so what do you think … ?"

She shook her head and gave a little shrug, still a bit lost for words as he started to speak again.

"I want you to be able to drive so that I can have a drink when we go out"

"What?"

"Okay, maybe not funny, it's so you can come and live with me, so we can be together at Ash or even here in Bath, but only if you want to of course, you know that don't you?"

"Are you trying to put me off before I've even said _yes_?"

"Are you going to say _yes_ then?"

"Dunno, depends, you know when you said 'here in Bath' did you actually mean 'here', right here?"

"What, you think I'm made of money?"

"Aren't you?"

"Dawsey….."

"Okay, okay, sorry, course I'm gonna say yes, you didn't even need to ask, did you? you knew I'd say yes"

"That's okay then isn't it?" His face was wreathed in a smile that reached out and wrapped her in so much happiness and love that they missed the arrival of their food meaning that the waitress had to clear her throat twice to draw attention to herself as she stood next to the table waiting patiently to put the dishes down in front of them.

-OG-

"Tell him he's got absolutely no say in it, he has to, I'm making it the new tradition. We started it the year after, well you know after what, and it's going to be really special this year… so, how are the lessons going, dear?"

"Yeah they're going okay" She ignored Margaret's attempt to change the subject "Are you saying that Charles knows all about it cos he hasn't said anything to me? He's never said a word about any celebration or nothing"

"Yes, well we did it last year, and I remember telling him then that it will be every year and it'll be even better this year with you there, because without you, there wouldn't be a Survival Day to celebrate, would there?"

"Margaret, I know you mean it when you say you're grateful 'n that for my bit in what happened, but I hate it when anyone goes on about it, it reminds me of some'ing I'm really trying me best to forget, you know, and I were only doing me job, well you know that too. It was the worst few minutes of me life, I thought ….. you know what I thought, and I hate thinking about it now"

"Alright, just a small family gathering then, Caroline, because if we don't include her she'll never speak to me again, which could be a bonus but she might cut Charles out of her will and that won't do, and my bossy sister and her boring husband, and just the two of you, oh and Bill and me of course, and I promise that there'll be no sloppy speeches. I'm still going to go to church though, either with everyone else or on my own, to say my thank you's ….. for giving my son back to me and you won't mind if I add a little prayer for you to say thank you for being there for him when he needed you"

"That's a lovely thing to say, thank you"

"No, I'm sorry I can't have that, its _thank you_ and it will always be thank _you,_ now, tell me has he said anything to you about the pair of you moving in here so that I can go and live somewhere where there aren't any flaming stairs to clean?"

"Well he sort of mentioned something about it a while ago, but we haven't talked about it for a long time" Molly was embarrassed, she thought that Margaret was wildly over-stepping the mark, a mark that was Charles' to make, well hers as well obviously, but definitely his as to whether he wanted to ask her to live with him there or not, or even if he wanted to live there himself.

"Come on, I need you to get a move on, dear, I've already got sore knees, and my bones creak when I get down to clean, I'm never sure I'm going to be able to get up again, and I don't want anything else to go wrong because I'm not getting any younger you know. Bill and I, well we want to have a bit of fun before we get too decrepit, and that certainly doesn't include cleaning this place"

"You're not selling it to me, Margaret" Molly couldn't help her giggle escaping.

"Now I know you're spending too much time with that son of mine, you sound just like him"

-OG-

In the end Margaret's Survival day celebration was not as awkward or emotional as Molly had feared, Margaret, Bill and Caroline had been to church and now everyone was drinking tea or sherry in the lounge as Molly slipped quietly into the hall and sat on the bottom step of the stairs. She put her elbows on her knees and rested her chin on her hands and looked back to that day. She could still feel the heat and smell the dust and hear the sound of their boots as they marched across that bloody bridge, could see and hear poor old Smurf behaving like a total dick, and the farmer with his dead goat, she could still hear the shots and feel again the pure terror that had flooded her before her training and its normal routine responses had kicked in.

None of that, however, came even close to the memory of the panic that had swamped her when that mert had carried him away, leaving her standing there helpless, unable to protect him and not knowing whether he was going to make it, even whether he was going to make it back as far as Bastion. Then the hours, the days and the weeks of the gut-wrenching anxiety that had followed, when she hadn't known minute by minute if he was hanging on in there, still fighting, whether she would ever see him alive again.

That was two years ago now, a long time so that it felt like another world which it was, her life had changed beyond belief but she was sure that no matter how hard she tried she'd never be able to completely forget.

"Hey" He sat down next to her on the stair and put his arm round her shoulder, hugging her tightly into his side and nudging her with his head against hers, knowing instinctively what she was thinking about "Stop it, it's over, done with, let's forget all about it and think about what we're going to do next instead"

"What we gonna do next then?"

"I don't know, how about, let me see now, how about we think about moving in here, Mum says it only takes about eight hours a day to keep the bloody place clean, so it'll keep you out of mischief won't it, what do you think?"

"Gonna get me a little pinny as well, are you? You wanna know some'ing Boss? It's funny but I've never really had this ambition to be a cleaner, don't think I'd be much good at it, some'ow"

"Don't call me Boss, and I'm sure you'd be the nuts at it like you're brilliant at everything you do and you'd look great in a pinny, especially if that was all you were wearing"

"Oi"

"Okay then, how about we change your name from Molly Dawes to Molly James?"

"Are you proposing, asking me to marry you?"

"Not on your bloody life, I never mentioned marriage, I didn't hear anyone mention getting married, I was thinking about deed poll"

"Just for that the answer's no, you can bugger off"

He nudged her with his head again and then kissed her on her temple as she giggled.

"Go on, you know you want to"

"What marry you? Only if you get down on your knees and ask me properly"

"What like this?"

"Yeah, now ask me properly"

"Ouch, ow, ouch, stop laughing woman I've got cramp, ow, ouch, some bloody medic you are, ouch"

"Serves you right ….. oh go on then get up"

"Only if you say yes"

"Are you putting that on? Okay, yes"

"Lovely"

-OG-

 _ **CHRISTMAS 2016**_

A huge tree illuminated with candles and fairy lights and a tall dark haired man made his way to the pulpit to read from "The Wind in the Willows". His parents, his son and his fiancée were all sitting together in one of the pews watching and listening as his voice rang out round the darkened church.

 _Villagers all, this frosty tide,_

 _Let your doors swing open wide,_

 _Though wind may follow and snow beside,_

 _Yet draw us in by your fire to hide,_

 _Joy shall be yours in the morning!_

Molly half-listened and turned her ring round and round her finger as she thought about the year since she'd last sat in this church and listened to him reading the same words from the same bit of the Wind in the Willows, how some things in her life had changed enormously, and some had stayed exactly the same. She loved him just as much now as she had twelve months ago, far more in fact, because this was real and not an _if only_ or a _might have been,_ and she couldn't imagine her life without him in it now. She was still a CMT at 2 Field in Aldershot and had passed her driving test in the late summer so that she was now the proud owner of a fourth hand Fiat, her pride and joy because she'd bought it for herself. She'd refused to let him pay for it or even to make a contribution towards it although he'd taxed and insured it for her 23rd birthday, but it did mean that she'd been able to live out with him, something that when she'd first seen him again a year ago today, would have seemed like an impossible pipe dream.

Margaret and Bill were still living in the house on Royal Crescent so that Margaret still had a periodic whinge about keeping the place clean and her creaking joints, although Bill had taken the wind out of her sails by employing a daily so that she was now busily looking around trying to find another excuse for demanding a move.

 _Here we stand in the cold and the sleet_

 _Blowing fingers and stamping feet_

 _Come from far away you to greet_

 _You by the fire and we in the street_

 _Bidding you joy in the morning!_

The wedding was all planned for Valentine's Day although they'd decided to have a pretty low-key do, much to Margaret's dismay, but Molly was aware that the Dawes clan wouldn't be best pleased with some high profile thing stuffed full of posh people that not even she had met. When Margaret had first gone through the intended guest list with them all Charles had kept saying was "Who?" or "Who the fuck are they?" or even a simple "Nope", so that he and Molly were happy with it, even if Margaret was still slightly miffed.

Sam started to fidget as his bum went to sleep sitting on the hard wooden seat so that Molly ruffled his hair and whispered "Not long now" as Charles got to the last little bit of the last verse and looked over towards where his family were sitting, his face wreathed in a smile.

 _Animals all, as it befell_

 _In the stable where they did dwell!_

 _Joy shall be theirs in the morning!_

Molly smiled back at him thinking how much she was looking forward to Christmas, even though Sam would be going back to his mum the next day, Christmas Eve, because it wasn't Charles' turn to have him this year. Today, for some reason and she didn't know why, she'd begun to think about all the stuff they hadn't even mentioned recently let alone discussed properly, about whether or not they would come and live in Bath, so whether or not she'd stay in the RAMC, or whether or not this time next year they'd be thinking about having a brother or sister for Sam, but none of it worried her, she knew that they'd be together and that she'd be sitting here, happy, listening to him read and she wouldn't want to be anywhere else, be with anyone else or be doing anything else, because everything was perfect, just as he'd promised.


End file.
